🗞Google Hangouts finally gets a shutdown date: November 2022
The shutdown of Hangouts has been a long time coming. The service launched in 2013 as an in-place upgrade to Google Talk. As Android's default messaging service, Hangouts amassed 5 billion downloads, and at one point, it even handled Android SMS duties, just like Apple's iMessage. The service fell out of favor with Google's legendarily fickle messaging strategy in 2016 with the launch of Google Allo. Google announced in 2018 that Hangouts would eventually be shut down. After several delays, Workspace customers (the paid business version of Google apps) finally had Hangouts removed in March 2022, but regular consumers can still switch between Google Chat and Hangouts. Starting today, most Google Hangouts clients will start pushing users to Google Chat. While most follow-ups to Google Hangouts have been severely lacking in comparable features.
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The shutdown of Hangouts has been a long time coming. The service launched in 2013 as an in-place upgrade to Google Talk. As Android's default messaging service, Hangouts amassed 5 billion downloads, and at one point, it even handled Android SMS duties, just like Apple's iMessage. The service fell out of favor with Google's legendarily fickle messaging strategy in 2016 with the launch of Google Allo. Google announced in 2018 that Hangouts would eventually be shut down. After several delays, Workspace customers (the paid business version of Google apps) finally had Hangouts removed in March 2022, but regular consumers can still switch between Google Chat and Hangouts. Starting today, most Google Hangouts clients will start pushing users to Google Chat. While most follow-ups to Google Hangouts have been severely lacking in comparable features.
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💡Minimize all windows Sometimes you have a bunch of stuff running, and you want it all to go away so you can get to the desktop. Simply pressing Windows key + D will minimize everything you have up, which will save you some time pressing the minimize button for each window. It should be noted that Windows + M offers similar functionality, but there is no undoing, so Windows + D is the more favorable approach. In macOS we favor leveraging the power of Mission Control to handle virtual desktops, switching between apps, and peaking at your desktop beautifully.
TIPS AND TRICKS
TIPS AND TRICKS
🗞WhatsApp is developing avatars for video calls
WhatsApp is slowly yet steadily expanding the frontier of what its users can do with emoji. It has certainly had to make up ground against other messaging apps with emoji stickers and animated emoji, but it's all progress nonetheless. We're now learning about another feature in the pipeline that's playing catch-up to something Apple and Samsung were all over years ago.WABetaInfo has picked up on plans to let users switch to a custom avatar perhaps in the style of Memoji or Bitmoji during video calls. This means that people will be able to utilize alternative avatars instead of using their straight camera vision or their profile picture during a call. The feature has been in development since March.Unfortunately, we don't see much about the avatars themselves here this screenshot simply shows the button the user will need to press to switch to their avatar. The button simply doesn't work at the moment.
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WhatsApp is slowly yet steadily expanding the frontier of what its users can do with emoji. It has certainly had to make up ground against other messaging apps with emoji stickers and animated emoji, but it's all progress nonetheless. We're now learning about another feature in the pipeline that's playing catch-up to something Apple and Samsung were all over years ago.WABetaInfo has picked up on plans to let users switch to a custom avatar perhaps in the style of Memoji or Bitmoji during video calls. This means that people will be able to utilize alternative avatars instead of using their straight camera vision or their profile picture during a call. The feature has been in development since March.Unfortunately, we don't see much about the avatars themselves here this screenshot simply shows the button the user will need to press to switch to their avatar. The button simply doesn't work at the moment.
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💡You can use the menu key on a keyboard to right click Not every keyboard has the key (shown above), but many do. Pressing the button will right click whatever you have in focus/selected in Windows.
TIPS AND TRICKS
TIPS AND TRICKS
🗞Here’s Google’s new ‘Switch to Android’ app for iPhones [Update: All Android 12 phones]
When moving from one Android device to a new one, it’s easy to simply connect the two phones together – either wirelessly or with a USB cable – to seamlessly copy over all of your apps, contacts, messages, photos, and more. By contrast, copying your data from an iPhone to Android has not been nearly as simple of a process, involving backing up your data to Google Drive and restoring it manually. Android 12 made things a bit easier, allowing you to copy over contacts, apps, and media, but only via a Lightning cable connection.In the opposite direction, for over five years, Apple has offered a dedicated “Move to iOS” app for Android that attempts to make it as easy as possible to join Apple’s ecosystem. Back in July 2021, we reported that Google was working on its own app to help new customers make their next phone an Android.
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When moving from one Android device to a new one, it’s easy to simply connect the two phones together – either wirelessly or with a USB cable – to seamlessly copy over all of your apps, contacts, messages, photos, and more. By contrast, copying your data from an iPhone to Android has not been nearly as simple of a process, involving backing up your data to Google Drive and restoring it manually. Android 12 made things a bit easier, allowing you to copy over contacts, apps, and media, but only via a Lightning cable connection.In the opposite direction, for over five years, Apple has offered a dedicated “Move to iOS” app for Android that attempts to make it as easy as possible to join Apple’s ecosystem. Back in July 2021, we reported that Google was working on its own app to help new customers make their next phone an Android.
TIPS AND TRICKS
💡Close the current window/tab Stick of moving all the way to that X button? Press Ctrl + W and the current window will close. (Don't do it now, or you will miss the rest of the tricks!)
TIPS AND TRICKS
TIPS AND TRICKS
🗞Instagram decides to publish all videos in ‘Rails’
For users selected for testing, the app will display a message stating that video posts are now published as reels. Anyone can use the video posted in the open account to create their own video unless otherwise specified in the settings. If the account is closed, the ability to repost is limited to subscribers only.The social network has not yet specified two important points: when this video format will appear by default for all users and whether this initiative will affect previously published videos. Additionally, it’s not yet clear if the ability to post videos in landscape mode will still exist if they are uploaded in portrait mode by default.Currently own Instagram* Meta company* relies on the reels format to counteract the success of TikTok. During its Q1 2022 financial results report, the company reported that the platform’s users spend more than 20% of their time in the reels space.
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For users selected for testing, the app will display a message stating that video posts are now published as reels. Anyone can use the video posted in the open account to create their own video unless otherwise specified in the settings. If the account is closed, the ability to repost is limited to subscribers only.The social network has not yet specified two important points: when this video format will appear by default for all users and whether this initiative will affect previously published videos. Additionally, it’s not yet clear if the ability to post videos in landscape mode will still exist if they are uploaded in portrait mode by default.Currently own Instagram* Meta company* relies on the reels format to counteract the success of TikTok. During its Q1 2022 financial results report, the company reported that the platform’s users spend more than 20% of their time in the reels space.
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Media is too big
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
🔑How do SSDs Work How does your Smartphone store data Insanely Complex Nanoscopic Structures!
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TIPS AND TRICKS
🗞China has a renewed plan to make a homegrown OS that could replace the need for Windows
China's quest for a homegrown desktop operating system isn't new. After trying for many years, the country has not yet been able to make any significant progress in that direction. Public institutions and citizens remain highly dependent on Microsoft's Windows operating system to this day, but that could change in the coming years.It will be interesting to see if China's latest OS initiative will succeed, but chances are high that it won't. Replacing mature operating systems that have been in development for decades is a monumental task, and Chinese tech companies are known for copying the homework of their Western counterparts.A little-known fact about Kylin is that at one point, it was over 99 percent plagiarized code from FreeBSD, something that damaged its reputation for several years. Modern versions are Linux-based, featuring a UI clearly inspired by both Windows and macOS.
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China's quest for a homegrown desktop operating system isn't new. After trying for many years, the country has not yet been able to make any significant progress in that direction. Public institutions and citizens remain highly dependent on Microsoft's Windows operating system to this day, but that could change in the coming years.It will be interesting to see if China's latest OS initiative will succeed, but chances are high that it won't. Replacing mature operating systems that have been in development for decades is a monumental task, and Chinese tech companies are known for copying the homework of their Western counterparts.A little-known fact about Kylin is that at one point, it was over 99 percent plagiarized code from FreeBSD, something that damaged its reputation for several years. Modern versions are Linux-based, featuring a UI clearly inspired by both Windows and macOS.
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💡Bring up the system information window This is so much quicker than digging this out the traditional way... Just press Windows + Pause/Break and the System Information panel will be ready to go. This might be the only use for the Pause/Break key you will ever find, so enjoy it!
TIPS AND TRICKS
TIPS AND TRICKS
🗞WhatsApp allowing users to delete sent messages after 2 days?
Back in 2017, users could only delete sent messages, including audio clips, photos/videos, or texts, within eight minutes. Currently, the time limit for deleting messages sent to everyone stands at one hour, eight minutes, and 16 seconds. However, in the latest Android beta version 2.22.15.8 of the application, the time limit has been increased to two days and 12 hours for select users only.Those using WhatsApp's beta version are not being notified about the increased time limit to delete messages. So, users have to try it out by themselves to see whether sent messages can be deleted after two days. On the other hand, WhatsApp is also bringing a delete message option that would allow group admins to delete chats of any member in the group.Moreover, WhatsApp will soon introduce custom avatars for users during video calls to safeguard their privacy and provide more opportunities for self-expression.
TIPS AND TRICKS
Back in 2017, users could only delete sent messages, including audio clips, photos/videos, or texts, within eight minutes. Currently, the time limit for deleting messages sent to everyone stands at one hour, eight minutes, and 16 seconds. However, in the latest Android beta version 2.22.15.8 of the application, the time limit has been increased to two days and 12 hours for select users only.Those using WhatsApp's beta version are not being notified about the increased time limit to delete messages. So, users have to try it out by themselves to see whether sent messages can be deleted after two days. On the other hand, WhatsApp is also bringing a delete message option that would allow group admins to delete chats of any member in the group.Moreover, WhatsApp will soon introduce custom avatars for users during video calls to safeguard their privacy and provide more opportunities for self-expression.
TIPS AND TRICKS
💡Use your keyboard to launch programs on the Windows taskbar Tapping the Windows key + the number that corresponds to the position of the program is a quick way to open them. For instance if Chrome were the second icon on your taskbar and that's what you wanted to open, you'd hit Windows key + 2.
TIPS AND TRICKS
TIPS AND TRICKS
counters are a shared resource on a PC that can be programmed in one of four modes. Since they’re shared resources, multiple programs might try to access the counters at once. This shouldn’t be an issue since most system utilities set the counters to mode 3. They’re all in the same mode, so they can use the same counter.
Unfortunately, Windows Defender is setting the counters to mode 2 at random intervals for random durations of time. This can occur while a PC is booting up or at any point afterward. As long as Windows Defender is running, there is a chance it will try to change the mode of the counters. This happens even if monitoring software isn’t running.
According to TechPowerUp, this isn’t an Intel hardware problem. Setting the same timers as Windows Defender manually does not impact performance. Plus, if you manually overwrite the counters, Defender will detect it and performance will go back to normal.
TechPowerUp reports that the bug is affecting Intel Core 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th Gen processors
Unfortunately, Windows Defender is setting the counters to mode 2 at random intervals for random durations of time. This can occur while a PC is booting up or at any point afterward. As long as Windows Defender is running, there is a chance it will try to change the mode of the counters. This happens even if monitoring software isn’t running.
According to TechPowerUp, this isn’t an Intel hardware problem. Setting the same timers as Windows Defender manually does not impact performance. Plus, if you manually overwrite the counters, Defender will detect it and performance will go back to normal.
TechPowerUp reports that the bug is affecting Intel Core 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th Gen processors
💡Use your keyboard to navigate system tray icons Tapping the Windows key + B will automatically select the system tray area at which point you just have to highlight something with the arrow keys and hit enter to open it.
TIPS AND TRICKS
TIPS AND TRICKS
🗞Bloomberg: iMac M3 is coming in 2023 and iMac Pro is in the works
a new report that Apple is working on at least two new iMacs with M3 series chips . Apple will likely introduce a 24-inch iMac with a standard M3 chip in 2023 , Mark German says , and continues to work on a high-end iMac model.Apple discontinued the iMac Pro in March 2021 and the 27-inch Intel iMac model in March 2022. As a result, only the 24-inch iMac M1 is available for now. The company has now practically replaced the 27-inch iMac with Mac Studio and Studio Display, and some sources believe that we should no longer wait for the high-end iMac model. However, Garmin still believes that a more powerful and higher -end model of this all-in-one computer is on the way.In the new note from Garmin, Mac Mini with M2 and M2 Pro, 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pro with M2 Pro and M2 Max and Mac Pro with M2 Ultra and M2 Extreme are mentioned, but there is no news about iMac M2.
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a new report that Apple is working on at least two new iMacs with M3 series chips . Apple will likely introduce a 24-inch iMac with a standard M3 chip in 2023 , Mark German says , and continues to work on a high-end iMac model.Apple discontinued the iMac Pro in March 2021 and the 27-inch Intel iMac model in March 2022. As a result, only the 24-inch iMac M1 is available for now. The company has now practically replaced the 27-inch iMac with Mac Studio and Studio Display, and some sources believe that we should no longer wait for the high-end iMac model. However, Garmin still believes that a more powerful and higher -end model of this all-in-one computer is on the way.In the new note from Garmin, Mac Mini with M2 and M2 Pro, 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pro with M2 Pro and M2 Max and Mac Pro with M2 Ultra and M2 Extreme are mentioned, but there is no news about iMac M2.
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