Twitter Blue Relaunches, Adds Gold Checkmark

Twitter has relaunched its premium subscription service, Twitter Blue, for iOS and web users. The service initially launched last month but was quickly suspended after a series of high-profile impersonations thanks to the subscription’s offering of a blue checkmark.

This time around, Twitter Blue is rolling out with new review policies that hopefully mitigate the issues it saw during the last launch. Subscribers will need to confirm their phone number when signing up and if they make any changes to their profile photo, display name, or handle, they will temporarily lose the blue checkmark until the account is reviewed and validated.

Other features of the subscription include the ability to edit tweets, upload 1080p videos, use reader mode, undo tweets, and access some customisation options. The site also says that new features such as prioritised tweets, 50% fewer ads, and posting longer videos will be coming soon.

Clubhouse Adds Music Mode, A New Audio Setting For Musicians And Creators

Clubhouse has introduced Music Mode on its app, which will first roll out to iOS devices and later on Android soon after. While its name sounds like an entirely new mode, the addition is actually a new audio setting that is tailored specially for musicians and creators who use the platform to broadcast their music. 

According to Clubhouse’s recent blog entry, activating Music Mode will optimise the platform’s audio streaming capability to deliver “high quality and great stereo sound.” In addition, enabling it will also allow musicians and creators to hook up professional equipment such as a USB microphone or a mixing board to be used during their broadcasts. 

To enable the mode, simply tap on the three dots at the top right corner, select Audio Quality, and then choose Music from the list. Keep in mind that this Mode is only for broadcasters, and regular users and audiences are not required to tweak their settings in order to enjoy the “high quality” music streaming.

In fact, Clubhouse had added a much appreciated audio enhancement feature for all users earlier this month. As we’ve reported prior to this, the platform previously introduced spatial audio support to its app, adding a sense of depth to its overall sound delivery – which is great for chat rooms, presentations, and also live music performances.

Being the pioneer of audio-only broadcasting, Clubhouse continues to face steep competition from its rivals such as Twitter, Facebook and even Spotify. All of which had only recently jumped into the scene after realising the fledgling platform’s ever growing success. Ever since, Clubhouse has vigorously been introducing improvements and new features to its app in order to be a step ahead of its numerous competitors.

Samsung Adds Wallpaper-Based Themes In Latest Android 12 Beta

Samsung has added its own wallpaper-based colour themes in the second One UI 4.0 beta with support for the “Dynamic Color” feature on Android 12’s Material You design. The Beta 2 release makes Samsung’s One UI the first third-party Android skin to adopt it, with OPPO’s and OnePlus’ recent betas lacking the prominent component of Android 12.

Dynamic Color uses AI to customise and determine your phone’s colour palette based on your chosen wallpaper. The generated accent is applied to various parts of the OS, including the settings, lockscreen, and other nooks and crannies.

Samsung’s Android 12 beta programme requires opting in through the Samsung Members app, and is currently only available for the Galaxy S21 series. To try this out, make sure you have the latest beta and then click on “Color Theme” in the “Wallpaper” settings.

Material You’s colour themes still don’t have that much support when it comes to third-party apps, with native Google apps such as Photos having just adopted the design language. 9to5google says that apps that support Dynamic Color still don’t work with Samsung’s version.

Google is quite late with this year’s software release as Android 12 has still not even been pushed out to Pixel phones yet despite already being released on the Android Open Source Project. With the Pixel 6 launching soon, only time will tell who will be the first to roll out a stable Android 12 update to consumers.

Facebook Adds End-To-End Encryption To Voice And Video Calls On Messenger

Facebook has announced that it has introduced new end-to-end encryption (E2EE) to enhance privacy for one-to-one voice and video calls on its Messenger platform. This expands on the messaging platform’s current encryption feature that has been implemented to its text chats since 2016 under the “Secret Conversation” option.

Although it is worth noting that the new E2EE feature for voice and video calls on Messenger would not be activated by default. Much like the existing one-to-one encrypted text messaging mode, users are required to manually opt into the feature when initiating a call with another person. Facebook is ensuring that all text and calls that are under E2EE are kept private between the user and the individual that they’re communicating with.

Introduced alongside encrypted voice and video calls is a minor update to its “disappearing messages” feature. This time around, users can choose to have chats designated as such to expire as soon as five seconds after it is viewed. Previously, disappearing messages can originally be set to vanish either after a minute or up to 24 hours. 

Additionally, Facebook also revealed that it is running a limited test for other encryption-based features to select users at this current time. These include E2EE enhanced group chats and calls between “friends and family that already have an existing chat thread or are already connected.” The social network says it is planning to implement the same limited test to Instagram’s direct messaging feature as well, but did not provide any further details regarding it.

Interestingly, Facebook also noted in its blog post that E2EE has become “the industry standard” for messaging services. However, despite characterising it as such, the company ironically continues to feature encrypted conversations as an opt-in experience on Messenger – unlike its subsidiary private messaging platform WhatsApp, which actually implements E2EE as a standard to chats since its launch.

Google Adds Warning For “Unreliable Search Results” On Emerging Issues

Google recently updated its search engine with an additional feature. Now, when people perform a Google search on a breaking story or a topic that is “rapidly evolving”, the search engine will alert them through pop-ups to the potential unreliability of its results.

The new prompt encourages users to take note that the topic in question is developing, so the search results are rapidly changing as new information is made available. The prompt, which appears above the search results, says, “If this topic is new, it can sometimes take time for results to be added by reliable sources.” Basically, the prompt is cautioning users to take everything with a grain of salt and wait for more information to come to light.

Google said its software systems will decide when the warning needs to be triggered by detecting rapidly developing topics that have a limited range of sources. “We’ll now show a notice indicating that it may be best to check back later when more information from a wider range of sources might be available,” Danny Sullivan, Google’s public liaison for search, wrote in a blog post.

According to a report from TechCrunch on Thursday, Google began testing this feature a week ago. However, the company stated at the time that only a small percentage of search results were showing the warning. The features will be rolled out to U.S. users over the coming months, the company said on Friday.

In recent years, Google has employed several fact-checking measures to prevent the spread of misinformation and include critical context for topics that go viral on the web. With all the focus on issues related to misinformation, extremism, and toxicity on its platforms, Google has developed several fact-checking features such as warning labels to image searches and knowledge labels to help fight these problems. Critics have ramped up their criticism of COVID-19, as well as elections since Silicon Valley giants have tried to combat their opponents’ claims regarding COVID-19, as well as other issues.

Illegear Adds Selenite X Into Its GeForce RTX 30 Series High Performance Laptop Lineup

After unveiling five gaming laptops with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 Series graphics back in January, local high-performance PC outfit Illegear has since added another model into the lineup. It comes in the form of Selenite X which is an all-new model for 2021 according to the company.

Equipped with a 17.3-inch WQHD IPS display that also has a refresh rate of 165Hz, the new Selenite X can be obtained with either Intel Core i7-10875H or AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX. Interesting enough, customers’ choice of CPU will also affect their graphics option as well.

Those who prefer the Intel CPU can choose between RTX 3060 and RTX 3070 while the Ryzen-based variant is equipped with GeForce RTX 3080 as standard. Positioned as a high-performance laptop that can cater to both gaming and professional environment, the Selenite X can be fitted with up to two 2TB PCIe NVMe M.2 solid state drives.

The 2.42kg laptop is also equipped with a 63Whr battery and RGB backlit keyboard. Price-wise, the variant with Core i7 CPU and RTX 3060 GPU starts at RM 7299 while its RTX 3070’s twin has a starting price of RM 8,398.

As for the Ryzen 9 and RTX 3080 combo, it can be obtained from RM 12,198 onwards. To learn more about the new Selenite X high-performance laptop, check out Illegear’s official website right here.

Adobe Adds “Invite To Edit” Collaborative Tool To Photoshop, Illustrator And Fresco

In an effort to make it easier for multiple people to work on the same project for several of its image and graphic editing applications, Adobe has introduced a new cloud-based collaborative tool known as “invite to edit”. This allows users to invite collaborators via email, providing them access to a file that is currently being worked on. The new feature is now available on Photoshop, Illustrator and Fresco across all supported platforms.

As mentioned earlier, the tool utilises Adobe’s cloud system where participants can access shared PSD and AI files that have been stored online. Although similar to an extent, “invite to edit” isn’t as flexible as Google Docs, which allows multiple users to view and edit the same file in real-time.

Instead, the feature only lets a collaborator take over an artwork once an active participant has exited and saved their progress. Alternatively, the collaborator could also make a copy of the file and edit it separately, but this means any changes made will not be reflected in the original document – so its best to use this option for comparison or suggestion purposes.

Edits that are done to a shared artwork will sync across to all users, allowing them to review the changes afterwards. The tool also supports version history, meaning a user can reverse certain edits made to the file, should there be any mistakes or a reverse in decision.

Adobe’s new “invite to edit” is definitely a handy tool for artists and designers alike, especially for team members who are working remotely from home during the ongoing pandemic. Not forgetting that it could also reduce the chances of miscommunication between collaborators, since they can now input their suggestions directly into the artwork itself.

Hopefully this could finally remedy the “Make it bigger” and “How big??” problem that has been plaguing artists and designers for ages.

Sony ZV-1 Firmware Update Adds Direct To PC Live Streaming Capabilities Via USB-C

Sony has released a new firmware update for its vlogging-oriented ZV-1 compact camera, which provides it the ability to link directly to a PC and be used as a webcam. This enables users, as Sony claims, to fully utilise the camera’s “high-quality video stream and built-in microphone for crystal-clear audio” for live streaming, video calls and more.

But wait, didn’t Sony do something similar to this already? Well, yes. The company indeed released a free desktop application last year in August, which lets users convert compatible Sony-branded cameras (including the ZV-1) to be used as webcams for video calls.

This new update, on the other hand, makes the process more straightforward as the feature is now natively included into the Sony ZV-1 itself – basically turning it into a plug-and-play device. Therefore, all the users need to do is connect the camera to their PCs via a USB-C cable, and it should register as a compatible webcam device. In addition, the feature uses standard UVC and UAC technologies, so any live streaming platforms that support those will be able to take advantage of the camera’s high-quality video capabilities.

Sony added that you needn’t necessarily require a PC in order to livestream via the ZV-1. This firmware update also allows users to link the camera directly to a compatible Xperia phone and use it as a secondary display to read comments and monitor the live feed. A very cool extra, provided that you already own a Sony smartphone, that is. For now, only the Xperia 1 II and Xperia 5 II are supported and they have to be running Android 11. Sorry, Xperia 10 II.

The Sony ZV-1 firmware update is available now for both Windows and Mac platforms. The company says that this capability will also be added to additional compatible cameras in the future, but did not specify which models exactly.

Upcoming iOS 14.5 Update Let Users Unlock iPhones Via Apple Watch; Adds DualSense Controller Support

Apple has recently released the iOS 14.5 developer beta that comes with new features for iPhones. These include an alternative way for users to unlock their handsets while wearing a mask and also adds support for next generation video game console controllers, among others things.

Since face masks have become a necessity for every individual as of late, the upcoming update introduces a new method for users to easily unlock their iPhones via their Apple Watch. According to a report by Engadget, the feature acts more like a 2-step verification process rather than a remote unlocking ability. Specifically, unlocking the paired Watch device will then activate the iPhone’s Face ID system that uses a lower facial recognition accuracy to identify its owner. 

This helps to speed up user verification especially when they are wearing a mask. The paired Watch will also provide a brief buzz to notify that the unlocking is successful. Apple previously added an update to Face ID which allows it to verify users even when they have their face protected. This upcoming feature, on the other hand, acts as an additional layer of security to that – ensuring that only the owner is able to unlock their iPhones.

The iOS 14.5 developer beta also included full support for the PlayStation 5 DualSense and Xbox Series X/S controller on iPhone devices, as well as third party AirPlay 2-equipped smart TV compatibility for Apple’s new Fitness+ service. This version also debuted the company’s App Tracking Transparency measures, which require developers to request for a user’s consent before enabling any of their app’s data tracking abilities for whatever purposes.

Seeing that the beta was just recently released, it may take some time for these new features to be publicly available. On a related note, Apple had recently released iOS 14.4 for iPhone users just last week and includes critical fixes for existing security exploits.