1 844.742.7448

Email Us

Remote Support

Contact

Posts tagged "feature"

  1. Home
  2. Posts tagged feature

Rejoice! WhatsApp users on iOS can celebrate the return of this great feature
  • No Comments

The beta builds of WhatsApp are where you tend to find new features and options to play with. From time to time, however, these preview builds also serve as a glimpse of things that are vanishing from the messaging app.

This is precisely what happened with the camera media bar recently, and this led to a wave of complaints from disgruntled users. Previously, you would be able to scroll through your images horizontally while having the camera available to shoot, but a recent update relegated this to just one image.

Thankfully, WhatsApp is very good at listening to feedback, and as such it has taken action to give people what they want. What this means is that – for iOS users, at least – the scrollable camera media bar is back.

The removal this feature caused a lot of upset as it made sending photos and videos a more long-winded process. A few extra taps here and there may not sound like much in theory, but it is something that soon gets extremely annoying in practice.

The bar is back

WhatsApp media bar

(Image credit: WABetaInfo)

Although the initial change that saw the removal of the camera media bar did not make the feature unusable, it did complicate the process unnecessarily. If you wanted to send out a message with a previously-taken image as quickly as possible, any extra steps could have been a major irritation.

This is far from being the first time WhatsApp has introduced a change only to backtrack on its design decision, and it almost certainly won't be the last.

This is why the return of the scrollable media bar will be welcomed by most. Anyone who is signed up for the TestFlight beta program can download and install WhatsApp beta version 22.4.0.72 for iOS.

Once installed, this version of the app restores the scrollable media browser bar, making it quick and easy to navigate through the contents of your camera rolls and select videos, photos and other images to send in messages.

Via WABetaInfo

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

Read More

Windows 11’s new feature is good news for your laptop battery
  • No Comments

Windows 11 has just given the Task Manager a smart new feature to tame apps which are being resource hogs, something that could help, well, everyone of course, but especially laptop users thanks to ensuing battery life benefits.

Note that this change is just in preview right now, with the new Build 22557 deployed to testers earlier this week, which comes complete with a host of useful moves, including a revamp of the Task Manager.

You may recall that the Task Manager has been given a makeover to bring its appearance more in line with Windows 11’s sleeker and modern look, plus a honed interface, but there’s another big introduction in Build 22557 and that’s Efficiency mode.

The idea with this feature is that when you spot an app which is using a ton of system resources (CPU, GPU, memory, or maybe all of them!) in the Task Manager, rather than killing it to free resources – which you may not want to do, or could have unfortunate consequences – you can switch it to operate in Efficiency mode.

As Microsoft makes clear, this will push the application in question right down the priority list when it comes to system resource allocation, thereby taming its resource usage, making your PC more responsive – if it was chugging under the weight of that particular workload – and providing better energy-efficiency.

Windows 11 Task Manager Efficiency Mode

(Image credit: Microsoft)

Apps or services which are in Efficiency mode will be marked with a small leaf icon, with suspended apps having a pause icon (as seen in the above screenshot).

Note that some processes may not be eligible for Efficiency mode, like core Windows services for example, where deprioritizing them could actually affect system performance negatively and slow your machine down. In these cases, the option to turn on Efficiency mode will be greyed out, ensuring you can’t do any harm when playing with this new tool.

Analysis: Microsoft is taking it slowly with Efficiency mode

Efficiency mode will doubtless prove a useful ability for Windows 11 users whose machines are running sluggishly thanks to an app which is dominating resource usage, as it makes it easy to tame such a process without having to entirely dump it.

As we mentioned at the outset, it’ll likely be a particularly valuable asset for those running Windows 11 on a laptop, where overly demanding applications don’t just slow down the system, but spike power usage and therefore drain more battery. With these kinds of programs tamed via Efficiency mode, users can expect to have more overall battery life, one of the prime concerns for mobile computing.

As noted, this is just in testing right now, but it’s not available to all testers just yet, and is rolling out to a small number of Windows Insiders to begin with. Microsoft sounds like it’s taking this one cautiously and is going to “monitor feedback and see how it lands before pushing it out to everyone.”

We can expect Efficiency mode to debut with Windows 11 22H2 when it arrives in the second half of this year.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

Read More

Twitter begins to expand its downvote feature – but is it needed?
  • No Comments

Twitter has been working on a way to enable users to downvote tweets, while not making them public, since early 2020, however the company is expanding the feature to more users across the world, not just in US.

Downvoting was also confined to web users, but this wider testing of the feature will also apply to some iOS and Android users, where you may start to see a downward-facing arrow on some tweets.

This won't hide the tweet or let the tweeter, or your followers, know that you've downvoted. This is more for Twitter to help refine its algorithm in helping you find better curated tweets. However, users aren't convinced.

A 'hide tweet' option instead?

If you use Reddit, you'll see the downvote button everywhere. It's a major part of the site's design, as it shows other users how well the post has been responded to by others.

But Twitter has gone down another avenue here, where the downvotes are seemingly just for the company to help improve its service, which seems over-engineered.

See more

Other companies such as YouTube has changed how it displays dislikes, with the option remaining, but the number of dislikes being hidden, and that has also proved controversial so far. The co-founder of YouTube, Jawed Karim, spoke of his frustrations in how the platform may decline after this change.

But with Twitter, it feels as though it's a feature that doesn't need to exist. While the company explains that it's to help the content you see, there's still the bigger problem of harassment and bullying that many users have been subjected to.

Showcasing a downvote button for Twitter's algorithm is backward, and instead, there should be other features, and beefed-up existing ones to help curb the harassment.

A 'I don't like this tweet' would be beneficial, alongside more streamlined ways to report abuse on the platform. Having a downvote button that benefits Twitter, not the user may be something that will urge the company to put the feature on pause for now, and to see how it can better serve users, rather than the algorithm.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

Read More

This new Zoom feature could save you from an embarrassing blunder
  • No Comments

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.

READ MORE

> We're all far more dependent on Zoom than we want to believe

> LinkedIn is taking on Zoom with a virtual events platform

> Zoom update delivers quick productivity hack for meetings

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

Read More

Twitter is working on a close-knit community feature called Flock
  • No Comments

Twitter is testing a new feature called Flock, that will seemingly allow you to tweet to followers in a closed group.

Social networks are, by their very nature, largely shared social experiences. But there are also options available on different platforms that make it possible to limit who can see what you post. On the likes of Facebook, this is a simple matter of configuring your audience to anything from making content public – meaning anyone can see things – to limiting viewing to a number of named individuals.

On Twitter, there aren't many options when it comes to controlling who can see your tweets. Unless you block individual users or restrict your account so it is only visible to followers, it is broadly speaking an all-or-nothing approach – but this could be able to change.

Just as Instagram has a feature that makes it possible to share content with a small group of people, we have known for a little while that Twitter is working on something similar. Towards the middle of last year, we learned about Trusted Friends – Twitter's take on Instagram's Close Friends – and now more details have started to emerge.

The first thing to note is that there seems to have been a name change. No longer known as Trusted Friends, the feature now appears to be called Twitter Flock. In a screenshot shared on Twitter by mobile developer Alessandro Paluzzi, we can see that work has progressed noticeably:

See more

Flocking to the tweets

As you can see from the screenshot taken from the iOS version of the Twitter app, your Flock is a group that can include up to 150 people. Anything you post to or share with your Flock can only be seen by those people, and only members of the Flock will be able to reply to tweets.

Privacy is a key feature of Twitter Flock. Not only does the feature mean that users will be able to limit who is able to see and interact with content, but Twitter also points out that “people won't be notified if you remove them from your Twitter Flock” – helping to avoid the need to awkward explanations!

For the time being, Twitter is keeping its cards close to its chest about the feature. The company is essential neither confirming nor denying what Flock is exactly, saying to the Verge that it is “always working on new ways to help people engage in healthy conversations, and we're currently exploring ways to let people share more privately.”

The company goes on to say: “We don't have any further news to share about the feature at this time, but we can confirm that the name 'Twitter Flock' is just a placeholder.”

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

Read More

This new Microsoft Excel feature is so obvious we can’t believe it didn’t already exist
  • No Comments

Microsoft is preparing an update for spreadsheet software Excel that rectifies an obvious shortcoming dating back a number of years.

According to a new entry in the company’s product roadmap, Excel will soon allow users to drop hyperlinks into comments added to spreadsheets. Currently, links can only be added to comments in plaintext, so must be pasted manually into a web browser.

The feature is currently under development, but should roll out to all Microsoft 365 users by the end of next month.

Given the simplicity and obvious utility of the new Excel feature, we found it difficult to believe it didn’t already exist. But lo and behold, a brief investigation revealed the current version will not allow the user to click through a link embedded in a comment thread, which adds unnecessary friction to the experience.

A quick search online reveals this is a problem Excel users have faced for years. Until now, people have had to rely on a rough-and-ready workaround to sidestep the issue.

Excel

(Image credit: Future)

As various online tutorials demonstrate, it is possible to add a hyperlink to a note (which is distinct from a comment) and pin that note to the sheet so it doesn’t disappear when the user mouses away from the associated cell. Microsoft Excel will then launch that URL in the default browser when someone clicks through via the note.

However, this method is neither particularly straightforward (it demands all existing formatting and any additional characters are removed from the note) nor particularly pretty, so the ability to simply drop a hyperlink into a comment thread will be welcome.

The update can be considered part of the wider campaign to optimize Microsoft 365 apps for live collaboration, in a world in which many people expect to either remain remote or adopt a hybrid working model.

In December, for example, Microsoft rolled out a series of improvements for the Excel web client, which can now support a wider range of files. Microsoft Outlook, meanwhile, received a feature that lets users specify whether they will attend a meeting in-person or through video conferencing software.

The company has even launched an entirely new collaboration app, called Loop, which allows users to create portable components that move freely and stay in-sync across all Microsoft apps.

The new hyperlink facility for Excel is yet another piece of this same puzzle.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

Read More

Microsoft is fixing this unloved Windows 11 feature
  • No Comments

If you’re using Windows 11, you may have briefly checked out the Widgets panel – before promptly forgetting all about it – but it looks like Microsoft is finally going to make it more useful.

The Widgets panel is a new feature introduced in Windows 11 that can give you details about the weather, news, traffic and more via ‘widgets’ – essentially small apps that give you at-a-glance information. You can bring up the Widgets panel by either swiping from the left-hand side of the screen, or pressing Windows + W on your keyboard.

While this might sound useful, the problem is that there aren’t many widgets available, and most of them are tied to Microsoft services (such as Outlook or OneDrive), making them pretty much useless if you don’t use those services. The fact that the Widgets panel is hidden away doesn’t help either, and it’s led to the feature being all to easy to ignore and forget about.

Microsoft needs to act to make sure the Widgets panel doesn’t go the way of other unloved Windows features, such as the notorious ‘Metro’ Start screen of Windows 8. The good news is that Microsoft appears to be looking at ways to improve Widgets.

Third party support

As Windows Central reports, a developer has posted on Twitter claiming that Microsoft will soon announce that it will allow third party Widgets in Windows 11. This should allow for a much more diverse, and potentially useful, selection of Widgets.

According to the developer, FireCube, Microsoft is talking to third parties, explaining that they will soon be able to submit widgets through the Microsoft Store – in the same way Windows apps are submitted.

See more

Hopefully this means we should see an influx of new, more useful Widgets coming to Windows 11. With the documentation apparently being shared with developers, it looks like Microsoft could be getting ready to officially announce third party widgets soon.

Will it be too late for Windows 11 widgets? Perhaps – some people will have already made their minds up about the feature. However, if Microsoft can convince some big names to make widgets for Windows 11, then perhaps users can be convinced to give them another chance.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

Read More

Microsoft Edge is bringing back a classic feature, but with a modern twist
  • No Comments

Microsoft is trialling new functionality for web browser Edge that expands upon the RSS-style Followable Web feature, which landed recently in early-access.

As part of an A/B testing process, the company is rolling out a new YouTube integration to a small pool of Microsoft Edge users, who will be able to follow their favorite creators with the press of a button.

The YouTube follow button will appear on the right side of the URL bar for trial participants. Clicking the button will provide information about the channel (e.g. subscriber numbers, total videos), a feed of the most recent videos and the opportunity to become a follower.

The feature appears to differ from the native YouTube subscription functionality, instead serving up content to Edge users via the Collections pane, as part of Microsoft’s recent RSS push.

RSS comeback

Developed in 1999, RSS (an acronym for Really Simple Syndication) was once one of the most popular ways of keeping track of news and other content published to the web. But its reign was relatively short-lived.

By creating a new avenue for sharing and discovering web content, the rise of social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter effectively put an end to the heyday of RSS. Other algorithm-based services like Google News also provided an alternative model for serving up content to web users.

However, as the problems with the algorithm-based approach to content discovery come to light (misinformation, echo chambers etc.), there are plenty of people looking for a way to exercise greater control over the information they are presented with.

Currently, many of these people make do with free RSS readers, a large proportion of which are developed on a shoe-string budget. But now, major web browsers like Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome are beginning to offer RSS functionality built-in.

Although RSS services have allowed users to follow YouTube creators for a while, Microsoft appears to be aiming at an altogether richer experience, whereby people are provided with contextual information about a channel as well as being notified when a new video lands.

The feature remains in early access for now, but depending on the outcome of testing may be rolled out as part of a full public build later in the year.

Via Windows Latest

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

Read More

Microsoft Edge is bringing back a classic feature – and you should absolutely use it
  • No Comments

Microsoft is attempting to bring back the RSS feed with a new feature for its web browser Edge, called Followable Web.

Currently available to members of the Edge Canary early access channel, the feature allows users to “follow” websites in order to receive a curated list of the latest updates.

The sites the user follows are shown in a panel on the side of the browser, but to see all of the followed sites, users will have to navigate to the Collections menu.

The rollout is gradual, even for Microsoft Edge Canary users, so don't fret if you're not seeing the feature in your app. Those interested in giving the test version of Edge a go can download it here.

RSS making a comeback?

Really Simple Syndication, or RSS, was once one of the most popular ways of keeping track of websites. Through the use of RSS readers, people were able to curate the newest content from their favorite places on the web with ease. But the reign of RSS was short-lived.

By creating a new avenue for sharing and discovering web content, the rise of social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter effectively put an end to the heyday of RSS. The algorithm-based methodology of Google News and Microsoft News also provided an alternative model for providing users with fresh content.

However, as the problems with the algorithm-based approach to content discovery come to light (misinformation, echo chambers etc.), there are plenty of people looking for a way to exercise greater control over the information they are served.

Now, it would seem, RSS is ready to come back into the limelight, with the new Followable Web feature for Edge. And Microsoft is not the only software giant working on an RSS feed feature for its browser, either; Google is also developing similar functionality for Chrome.

  • Protect your online privacy with the best VPN services around

Via WindowsLatest

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

Read More