Zoom has announced a number of new updates and features for its video conferencing software that will help organizations be more productive and get the most out of their meetings.
According to a new blog post, hosts will now be able to schedule a meeting with Focus Mode set to start automatically. While this feature was originally designed with online learning in mind, it can also help large businesses with many employees stay on task during their meetings.
For those unfamiliar, Zoom's Focus Mode places meeting participants in a view where they can only see themselves, the host and or co-hosts and the content being shared. However, hosts and co-hosts can also choose to view participants in Gallery View which enables them to see everyone at once.
Speaking of Gallery View, Zoom has also added the ability to save a custom Gallery View order. Meeting hosts can now save a customized gallery order to each unique meeting ID which allows them to load the saved customized order before a meeting as opposed to having to manually change the order each time they're in a video call.
Video Mail
In addition to helping users have more productive meetings, Zoom has also announced a new update for its cloud phone system that will make it easier for colleagues to keep in touch.
While voicemail used to be the only option to leave someone a message when they didn't answer their phone, nowadays most people don't even check their voicemail. For this reason, Zoom has decided to provide its users with a more personable alternative to standard voicemail.
Zoom Phone users can now greet their colleagues with video greetings which allow them to leave video messages right from their voicemail inbox. You can check out this support document from Zoom to get started leaving video greetings or videomail for your colleagues.
While some users have returned to the office full time, other organizations have introduced hybrid work policies where some people are at the office and others are at home. With Zoom's new tools though, employees can stay connected with their teams regardless of whether they're working from home or are out in the field.
DuckDuckGo may be best known for its privacy-focused search engine but following the success of its all-in-one privacy apps and extensions, the company is now developing its own browser.
Since making the decision to move beyond private search in 2018, the company's privacy apps and extensions have been downloaded over 150m times. In addition to providing users with a search engine, DuckDuckGo's mobile app also allows you to browse the web privately.
Now in a new blog post, DuckDuckGo CEO Gabriel Weinberg has revealed that the company is working on a desktop browser that will redefine user expectations of everyday online privacy. Unlike with other browsers, DuckDuckGo for desktop won't have any complicated settings, misleading warnings or “levels” of privacy protection. Instead, the company's browser will feature robust privacy protection that works by default across search, browsing, email and more.
While browsers like Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Vivaldi, Brave and others use Chromium, DuckDuckGo is building its desktop app around OS-provided rendering engines just like the company does on mobile. This will allow it to strip away the clutter that has accumulated over the years in most major browsers.
DuckDuckGo year-in-review
While we'll likely hear more about DuckDuckGo's desktop browser next year, the company spent 2021 strengthening its all-in-one privacy solution with new improvements and features designed to help users take back their privacy.
The company announced the beta release of its free email forwarding service Email Protection this year which removes trackers in your email and protects the privacy of your personal email address without asking users to switch to another email service.
Just last month, DuckDuckGo released its App Tracking Protection feature into beta in its Android app to block third-party trackers from companies like Google and Facebook that often lurk in other apps. Interested users can join the waitlist through the company's DuckDuckGo Android app to test App Tracking Protection out for themselves.
Finally, DuckDuckGo made a lot of improvements to its search results this year including giving its search results page a more simple and modern design while it continued to refine and improve its local, maps and directions results. However, other improvements made by the company include a new translations instant answer, revamped definitions and weather answers, custom data range filtering, more filters on images and upgrades to advanced search.
With 2022 just around the corner, you may be trying to come up with a New Year's Resolution and if you're struggling to think of one, why not improve your privacy and security by giving DuckDuckGo a try, installing an antivirus, using a VPN and storing your credentials securely with a password manager?
If 2021 was the Year of Supply Chain Pain, 2022 will be the Year of Supply Chain Chronic Pain (or something worse than pain). This past year, the pain was felt in two significant ways: through the supply chain disruptions caused by COVID-19, and through the many security breaches that we saw in our key […] Threatpost
Windows 11 continues to run into trouble with drive speeds being seriously hampered, as more users are being affected by a previously flagged issue than was first thought – this isn’t just about NVMe SSDs it seems – but the better news is that Microsoft has a (hopefully imminent) fix in the pipeline.
Earlier this week, we reported on the problem with NVMe SSDs running over 50% slower in some cases with write speeds, but as noted, it turns out that this nasty storage flaw affects all disks, as Microsoft has recently admitted (as spotted by Windows Latest, which points out the problem has been observed across all sorts of online forums).
On November 22, Microsoft pushed out a cumulative update in preview, KB5007262, and under the listed fixes, a cure for this issue is present noting that it affects all types of storage medium.
Microsoft said that KB5007262 “addresses an issue that affects the performance of all disks (NVMe, SSD, hard disk) on Windows 11 by performing unnecessary actions each time a write operation occurs. This issue occurs only when the NTFS USN journal is enabled. Note, the USN journal is always enabled on the C: disk.”
As this is an optional (preview) update, you have to manually install it, and as with anything which is still officially in testing, it may also cause problems as well as solve them.
The best course of action at this point is likely to wait, because this preview update arrived a few weeks back now, and the full (finalized) cumulative update will be available for Windows 11 users on Patch Tuesday for this month, which is this coming Tuesday, December 14.
Analysis: A chance to turn over a new leaf squandered
This is another of those alarming bugs which have blighted Windows 11, and made it an unpleasant experience performance-wise for a number of users. It’s worrying to learn that it affects all types of SSDs and even hard disks as well, considering how much of a speed reduction can be caused by the problem, but at least we know that the resolution is (theoretically) just around the corner now.
Windows 11 has also witnessed a number of serious issues around performance on the desktop with File Explorer, and this is such a fundamental piece of the interface that it’s another very concerning facet of what seems to be misfiring QA (quality assurance) at Microsoft.
That isn’t a new thing, and we’ve got used to this state of affairs with Windows 10, sadly. But it’s something we hoped might be rectified, given that Windows 11 could have been a new leaf for the software giant – but Microsoft certainly hasn’t got off on the right foot here, bug-wise. Indeed, these performance problems with drives and the UI were in evidence before Windows 11 was even released, so it’s not like Microsoft hasn’t had some time to get things right.
Clearly, the drive issue was a thorny problem, and it’s better late than never with the fix – but we won’t stop banging the drum that Microsoft needs to do better when it comes to keeping its desktop operating systems in more bug-free shape than this.
It looks like both Google and Apple saw record-breaking numbers when it came to mobile app installs in 2021.
SensorTower measures the most popular app installs for Google and Apple devices, and in 2021 there was a 20% increase in users purchasing apps.
Many of the most popular apps appear to be social media apps and games, with TikTok, Facebook and Instagram being at the top of the most-installed charts, alongside games such as Honor of Kings and Coin Master.
However, we’re starting to see different ways in which we can access these apps, with Apple M1-powered Macs allowing iOS apps to be used and Chromebooks running Android apps. Windows 11 is also about to be able to download and run Android apps through Amazon.
With mobile apps coming to more operating systems, we may see a big change in SensorTower’s charts in a year’s time of how apps will be downloaded and purchased.
An App Store in more places
These charts give users a good idea of what apps were used across the year. With the global Covid-19 pandemic, people are using devices more in their homes as lockdowns became enforced, which would have influenced the charts from SensorTower in 2021.
But thanks to vaccines, users are going out again, trying different apps for different situations. This could lead to an increase in travel apps, for example, with users looking into what public transport they should use.
The MacBook Pro 14-inch (2021) is a recent example that’s powered by Apple’s M1 Pro or M1 Max chips, which let you download previously-purchased iOS apps. This is because the CPU is the same architecture as used in the iPhone and iPad, and this has allowed apps to also run in macOS, as long as the developer has allowed for this.
This means that if you see an app on the iOS App Store, there’s a good chance that you can also use it on your Mac as well as your iPhone or iPad.
This could have a big influence on the charts that SensorTower creates each year. We use our devices in different ways in different places – for instance, an app you download from the iOS App Store may be more suited on your Mac. Games are a good example of this, with Grand Theft Auto: Vice City being available for iPhone and iPad, but can now be downloaded on an M1-powered Mac, so you can carry on your progress during a commute on the train for instance.
Meanwhile, Microsoft is also doing its own take on this, thanks to an agreement with Amazon.
(Image credit: Apple)
A Windows App Store fusion
Windows 11 was announced in June with a redesigned Microsoft Store, where you can download and install apps, much like you can in Android and iOS. But a surprise arrived in the form of Android apps from the Amazon App Store, which are also coming to the Microsoft Store.
While it’s in testing on the Windows Insider channels, where you can test features under development, it could heavily influence how the Android charts from SensorTower could appear this time next year. Users who have an Android phone could carry on their work or progress in a game on their Windows tablet and PC, as long as the app is available on the Microsoft Store.
Users have already found methods to install any Android app from Google Play on Windows 11, which showcases how other apps could be used in Microsoft’s software if the company went beyond the Amazon App Store agreement.
We’re in a time where mobile apps are about to expand to other devices in a big way, which could also encourage developers to create apps or update their existing ones to cater for these changes.
Both iOS apps in macOS and Android apps in Windows 11 throw down the gauntlet to see how developers can adapt to these upcoming changes. It’ll also be interesting to see how these new ways of using mobile apps influence next year’s charts.
A world in which Kevin from The Office, Jay from the Inbetweeners, and Karl Kennedy from Neighbours rule the roost may sound like the hazy figment of a beautiful imagination, but that's exactly what the Cameo app has made a reality.
Cameo saw its popularity explode during lockdown, as thousands of bored stars of film, TV, music and sport rushed to Cameo to showcase their talents, make a buck or two, and brighten fans' days in the process.
Dunder Mifflin's slickest accountant has lined his accounts to the tune of more than $ 1 million purely from his Cameo appearances and, having seen him in action, it's little wonder why fans of The Office can't get enough.
But what is Cameo, how is it any different to Instagram, Twitter and any other social platform, and what can you use it for? Keep reading for all you need to know about Cameo.
What is the Cameo app?
Have you ever dreamed of getting a pep talk from your team's star player? Fantasized about your favorite movie star reenacting *that* iconic line, just for you? Or wanted to be serenaded by your 90s crush?
Cameo is a website and app that is specifically dedicated to making your most outlandish, niche and even your dullest celebrity-oriented daydreams come true – within reason of course.
The video-first platform literally allows you to pay famous stars (current and former) to either record a personalized video message, or chat one-to-one on a video call.
It's the latest evolution of social media, and what many of us rather over-ambitiously envisaged when Twitter and Instagram first emerged all those years ago; only now camera phones are good enough and data speeds fast and reliable enough to make that vision a reality.
As well as making you feel like you've got a direct and intimate line to your idols, it gives bored and out-of-work celebrities something to do.
How does the Cameo app work?
Performers as they may be, your favorite celebs won't be able to churn out a personalized video on the spot. You instead need to submit a request, which you can do on behalf of yourself, as a gift to somebody else, or for an entire company, by visiting their Cameo page.
They'll then have up to seven days to fulfil it, although many guarantee a 24-hour turnaround. They also have the option to decline requests.
The request process itself includes plenty of guidelines, but the trick is to be clear and concise. For instance, you won't need to set out that your request is for a birthday message, as there are dedicated special occasions toggles, which also include holiday, pep talk, and roast.
However, you may want to explain any potentially tricky name pronunciations, specify the tone of the message, and include precise details to make the video message or call as personal as possible. Or if you'd prefer them to freestyle, or to say or do something specific, say so in your request.
When your request has been fulfilled, you'll receive a link to your personalized video message, which you can download and share online.
(Image credit: Cameo)
What celebrities are on the Cameo app?
Hollywood royalty, sporting idols and global megastar musicians have flocked to the platform in their thousands.
Think you've got what it takes to withstand both barrels from Logan Roy himself? Brian Cox from Succession is a relative newcomer to Cameo, and will happily sling a few f-words your way, whatever the occasion.
Tony Hawk, Magic Johnson and Brett Favre are just some of the legendary sportspeople on the app, plus you could just get Bruce Buffer to shout “Iiiiiiit's TIIIIIIIIIIME!” over and over again, if you wanted to. Unless you'd rather “Get rrrrrrrready to RRRRRUMBLE!” instead, of course, in which case Michael's also available.
Gloria Estefan's rhythm really could get you, while you no longer need wonder how you might live without LeAnn Rimes. And let's not forget about the smooth, sultry tones of Kenny G, who'll pull out all the stops if the price is right.
And who else but Caitlyn Jenner heads up Cameo's superabundance of personalities from reality TV? RuPaul's Drag Race's Divina de Campo and NYC's realest housewife Sonja Morgan are also immensely popular on the app.
But Cameo's biggest draws aren't necessarily who you might expect them to be. Cult TV actors James Buckley (Jay from The Inbetweeners), Alan Fletcher (Karl Kennedy from Neighbours), and the undisputed king of Cameo, Brian Baumgartner (Kevin from the US version of The Office), are amongst the app's star attractions and despite getting perfect reviews pretty much across the board, they're also far cheaper than many others.
Fred Stoller (Handy Manny, Everybody Loves Raymond)
Colin Mochrie (Whose Line Is It Anyway?)
Ray Abruzzo (The Sopranos, The Practice)
Sandra Diaz Twine (Survivor)
Lee Rosbach aka Captain Lee (Below Deck)
What does the Cameo app cost?
The Cameo app is free to download, but the rich and famous don't just give away their time and energy for nothing. They set their own fees, which vary wildly.
Video messages, either for yourself or another individual, are by far the most affordable service available on Cameo, with prices starting at $ 15 per message at the time of publication. The, ahem, celebrities around this price point tend to be niche comedians and lookalikes, although in most cases they have excellent reviews.
The $ 50 mark is where you'll start recognizing household names. As a general rule of thumb, the more you're willing to spend, the more famous the face – though you'll find a few exceptions along the way.
Some celebrities have a higher opinion of themselves than others (more on this below), and charge several hundred dollars, or even thousands per message.
Live video calls tend to be a little pricier than pre-recorded messages, but not outrageously so. However, they do have the potential to be much more awkward.
Commercial bookings are by far the most expensive. Several hundred dollars would be at the cheaper end of the scale, with these types of bookings regularly climbing into the thousands.
Who is the most expensive person on Cameo?
He long ago made the pursuit of money, money and more money the central pillar of his persona, so it's little surprise that Floyd “Money” Mayweather is one of the most expensive people on Cameo, a fact that he's very proud of.
The former champ's prices are set at $ 15,000, though he only accepts commercial bookings.
However, fellow boxing Hall of Famer Mike Tyson has thrown his hat into the ring by charging $ 20,000, also strictly for business requests.
The one-time “Baddest Man on the Planet” has rather mellowed out in his later years, and for that extra $ 5,000, is likely to deliver a few more pearls of wisdom than the abrasive Mayweather, a suspicion backed up by their ratings.
(Image credit: Cameo)
How do I get the Cameo app?
Signing up to Cameo is straightforward, and takes just a couple of minutes.
You can do so via the app, which is available to download for free on both on iOS and Android, or via the Cameo website.
We'd recommend signing up on the website if you can, since some celebrities' Cameo profiles aren't accessible on the app at all due to Apple taking a significant chunk of the money made from bookings through the iOS app.
You just need a few key details to sign up, including your name, email address and a password.
How do 1:1 live video calls work on Cameo?
For some, the chance to speak to their idols one-to-one on a video call is the most exciting thing about Cameo, although a significant number of the celebrities on the platform have opted out of live video calls (and those that do offer them charge a premium for the privilege).
There are no phone numbers involved. Rather, you can join your favorite celebrity's Cameo Fan Club on their profile. You'll then be notified when they plan to go live.
When you join, prepare to wait a short while as you likely won't be first in the queue, and bear in mind that many of the celebrities who do offer live calls on Cameo prefer to keep conversations sharp.
While you can't record live video calls, you will get a photo opportunity at the end.
Keeping the photos and videos stored on your Android smartphone away from prying eyes is about to get a whole lot easier as the new Locked Folder feature in Google Photos is now rolling out to even more devices.
Google's own Pixel phones were the first devices to get access to this feature and now almost six months later, it's finally becoming available to smartphones from other device manufacturers including Samsung, OPPO and OnePlus.
While Google Photos acts as a cloud storage service for your photos, it's worth noting that pictures moved to a Locked Folder will no longer be backed up to the cloud and will only be available on your smartphone. At the same time, if you uninstall Google Photos or clear its app data, all of the items inside your Locked Folder will also be deleted.
For this reason, you should back up these photos online using one of the best photo cloud storage services for safekeeping before getting started with Google Photos' Locked Folder feature.
Hiding sensitive photos and videos
According to a support document from Google, to configure the Locked Folder feature in Google Photos, you'll first need to open the app and go to Library > Utilities > Locked Folder.
From here, just follow the on-screen instructions to unlock your device though if you don't have a screen lock set up for your smartphone, you'll need to do that first before using Locked Folder. Once the Locked Folder feature is ready, you can select the photos and videos you want to secure, tap on the three dot menu and select Move to Locked Folder to hide these items from the main Google Photos library.
If you own one of Google's Pixel phones, you can save photos directly from Pixel camera to Locked Folder to have them hidden automatically.
Up until now, Android users had to rely on third-party apps to hide photos and videos stored on their devices but with Locked Folder now rolling out to non-Pixel phones, you'll be able to secure all of your photos and videos directly in Google Photos.
Voice messages are, by their very nature, an audio experience – but this is something that WhatsApp is looking to change. When you receive a voice message form a contact (or, indeed, if you send one yourself), you will be used to seeing a progress bar during playback.
This is a handy visual aid that helps let you know how long a message is and how much more there is to listen to. But now the feature is getting a bit of an upgrade to make it more visually appealing thanks to voice waveforms.
We've seen WhatsApp playing around with waveforms previously, with Android users who are signed up for the beta program having been given a sneaky glimpse at the feature. But it was only a brief look, as voice waveforms were swiftly disabled without a word of explanation
However, they appear to be back. The fact that the new visual accompaniment to voice messages is now available for iOS and Android beta testers (but still only beta testers) could be indicative of the feature being almost complete and ready for an even wider rollout. But what's all the fuss about?
Sound and vision
On one hand, these are just pretty animations to watch while you listen to a message you have received. On the other, they are helpful visual tools that can be reassuring when there is a period of silence in a message; if there is no activity in the waveform, you can safely assume that there is no sound to hear, rather than there being a problem with your speakers… or ears.
As is often the case with WhatsApp, although this new feature is being made available to beta testers, it is not necessarily going to be available to all beta testers immediately. It's something that's controlled server-side, so while ensuring that you have the latest version of the app installed is undoubtedly a good idea, it's sadly no guarantee of getting access to voice wave forms right now.
WABetaInfo reports that WhatsApp beta for Android 2.21.25.11 and WhatsApp beta for iOS 2.21.240.18 are compatible with the feature, so make sure that you have one of these installed for the best possible change of getting to try out the new feature.
Microsoft is working on a new update for its video conferencing software that will allow organizations with supported devices to use multiple cameras in Microsoft Teams.
There is a catch though as this new multiple camera feature will only work on select Microsoft Teams Rooms devices.
For those unfamiliar, Microsoft Teams Rooms is a dedicated hardware and software solution for video conferencing that was previously called Skype Rooms. Microsoft Teams Rooms devices include headsets, speakerphones, desk phones and Teams displays, collaboration bars, webcams and more.
According to a new post on the Microsoft 365 Roadmap, this feature is currently in development and is slated to roll out to Microsoft Teams Rooms devices like the Surface Hub 2S in January of next year.
Switching between multiple cameras
Once this new feature is available, organizations that have a meeting or conference room with more than one video camera connected to Microsoft Teams Rooms will be able to switch between them while in a video call.
To do so, they'll need to click on the icon that depicts an arrow going through a rectangle at the bottom of a Teams meeting to see a list of available cameras. From here, they'll be able to switch between cameras seamlessly without interrupting their meeting.
As more devices have built-in cameras than ever before, this new update to Microsoft Teams Rooms will allow organizations to take advantage of them. Some possible use cases include being able to switch between a wide group shot and having one individual on camera as well as being able to give attendees a close up view of a product or design.
Now that Microsoft is adding multiple camera support to Microsoft Teams Rooms, the company could eventually add this same functionality to regular Teams meetings so that individuals can also give their meetings more of a cinematic feel.
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