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Tech News Wrap: Instagram introduces new features for reels..and more

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tech-news-wrap-03-06-2022

Instagram introduces new creative features for reels

Instagram has introduced new features for the creators to bring more creativity to their reel’s content. These new tools can help them increase their creativity and engagement with every short video clip. These include New Audio Options, Interactivity, & Templates. Along with this, the platform has also rolled out a new sound effect feature where users can directly upload their own music files to any story they like. Earlier the users could only use the sound that the platform had in its album.

Instagram introduces new creative features for reels

Instagram is the fastest-growing social media platform with more than 675.3 million users. This means more than one-quarter of Instagram’s more than 2 billion users are using this functionality. Additionally, there are updates for the latest length restrictions. Previously, all videos were limited to 15 seconds, but Instagram has now extended that by 600%, allowing users to post up to 90-second clips. Users can also use some interactive stickers, polls, and emoji sliders to create maximum engagement.

Final Fantasy 16 gets a launch timeline with the latest trailer

Sony recently hosted its PlayStation’s Play event for June, revealing the new trailer for the upcoming Square Enix’s Final Fantasy XVI. The announcement for this upcoming season was first made in 2020 and since then it was there was no new update on its release. However, the developers have finally unveiled what the fans can expect to see when the title launches for the PlayStation 5 in the Summer of 2023. The trailer “Dominance”, has already told the fans what it’s bringing to the players with some crazy action that Final Fantasy fans have desperately wanted to try for years.

Instagram introduces new creative features for reels

Talking about the highlights from the trailer, it gave a glimpse of the title’s protagonist in Clive Rosfield, battling against enemies of all kinds, using some of the franchise’s iconic Eikons (Summons) like Phoenix, Titan, Garuda, Ramuh, Shiva, Odin, Bahamut, and Ifrit. Much of the trailer is dedicated to showing off the Summons’ incredible size and powers. Not revealing much, but the trailer is sure one hell of a thing!

WhatsApp likely to introduce new chat filters for desktop

WhatsApp is currently rolling out the new unread chat filter to WhatsApp Desktop Beta users on version 2.2221. Earlier, there was no way to filter out the read chats. Reportedly, the new filter option will appear next to the search bar and when the user clicks on it it will simply hide the read chats and you will only be left with the unread ones. There’s also an added option to clear the filter and restore the original view when there are no unread chats left.

WhatsApp likely to introduce new chat filters for desktop

This change is a very much needed one for those who get a lot of messages on WhatsApp and just couldn’t respond to all of them. Through this button, we can notice and focus on the unread chats that have been buried at the bottom of the list for a long. Only last month it started supporting message reactions. It’s unclear if it’s a gradual rollout that affects a certain percentage of users or if it’s a full one.

Twitter testing new feeds for its Community feature for iOS

Twitter has announced two new ways in which the users can engage in a community by either going for ‘For Your” or the “Latest” timelines. Both these options are available within the group they’re part of. As per Twitter, “the Community feature is designed to help people find other individuals who share similar interests and provide a comfortable space to participate in conversations that are most relevant to them.”

Twitter testing new feeds for its Community feature for iOS

So whether someone is a Harry Styles fan, food lover or an Xbox aficionado, we know it can be hard to keep up with conversations in a Community, especially ones with a lot of activity. With this new test, we’re making it easier for people to personalize their Community timelines and keep up with the conversations they care about most. As of now, the setting each person chooses will become the new default every time they visit that Twitter Community. Twitter already offers the same experience on its main feed. With this change in Community, the company wants to give people the option to stay up-to-date on the latest happenings and see the most relevant and engaging conversations within their groups. For those who are part of this test, they’ll see that these timelines can be changed in the upper right-hand corner of each Community, just like on the Twitter Home timeline.

Also Read: Instagram launches AMBER Alerts to help find missing children, to be available in 25 countries

Instagram launches AMBER Alerts to help find missing children, to be available in 25 countries

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Instagram AMBER Alerts

After launching on Facebook in 2015, Meta-owned photo sharing app Instagram has launched AMBER Alerts on this platform for the first time. With the availability of the AMBER ALERTS, people can see and share notices of missing children in their area.

Rolled out on June 1 in the US, the new feature will be available in 25 countries in the coming weeks. In addition to the US, AMBER Alerts on Instagram will be available in the next couple of weeks in 25 countries: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Ecuador, Greece, Guatemala, Ireland, Jamaica, Korea, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Romania, South Africa, Taiwan, Ukraine, the UK, and the United Arab Emirates.

Instagram is also working to expand and bring AMBER Alerts to more countries. According to the Instagram, AMBER Alerts are an important way they can support the communities in keeping children safe.

Developed in partnership with organizations like the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) in the US, the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children, the National Crime Agency in the UK, the Attorney General’s Office in Mexico, the Australian Federal Police and more, AMBER Alerts have been successful in helping authorities find and quickly locate missing children since its launch on Facebook.

Users in the designated search area will get the alert on their Instagram feed if an AMBER Alert is activated by law enforcement. This increases the chances of finding a missing child increase as more people are on the lookout.

Photo, description, location of the abduction and any other available information of the missing child can be provided through AMBER ALERTS. Instagram users can share the information with friends to further spread the word and intensify the search operation.

AMBER Alerts are rare and specific to the search area. A variety of signals, including the city users list on their profile, their IP address and location services (if you have it turned on) are used in order to know who to show these alerts to.

 “Instagram is a platform based on the power of photos, making it a perfect fit for the AMBER Alert program,” said Michelle DeLaune, President and CEO at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. “We know that photos are a critical tool in the search for missing children and by expanding the reach to the Instagram audience, we’ll be able to share photos of missing children with so many more people.”

Previous updates

Last month, Instagram brought Visual Refresh new energy and purpose to colors, typeface, logo and other brand elements with a refreshed visual identity. According to the Instagram, the new system is designed to embrace continued evolution to help the photo-sharing app create more immersive and inclusive experiences for the community.

Instagram has been adding various features to improve users’ experience. To make Instagram not only available but also accessible to everyone, the Meta-owned platform made auto-generated captions the default for creators. Supported globally on Android and iOS in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Arabic, Vietnamese, Italian, German, Turkish, Russian, Thai, Tagalog, Urdu, Malay, Hindi, Indonesian and Japanese, Instagram announced to provide updates about the availability of the auto-generated captions for Instagram Video. The feature was made available in March 2022.

This feature creates captions automatically and remain on unless manually turned off while uploading a video. When viewing a video, you can tap the three dots (…) in the upper right corner and select “Manage captions” to toggle captions on and off.

Captions sticker on Stories and Captions sticker on Reels were other features introduced by the Instagram to make the platform more accessible. Captions sticker on Stories was announced in May 2021, while Captions Sticker for Reels was added in July 2021.

How to use Captions sticker on Stories

Users need to go to the sticker tray, select Captions and then re-watch your video to view the auto-generated text when creating a video on Stories. You can edit the text by tapping it if you want to change something. Captions sticker on Reels works in the similar fashion. This too automatically convert audio to text.

Live Rooms was also added by the Instagram in March 2021. Live Rooms give creators the option of going live with up to 3 additional people. Since its release, creators have used Live Rooms to include American Sign Language interpreters in public meetings like press briefings and constituent Q&As.

Also, Read Here: Meta-owned Messenger gets a new ‘Calls’ tab: Here’s how it works

Meta-owned Messenger gets a new ‘Calls’ tab: Here’s how it works

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Meta-owned Messenger gets a new Calls tab: Here's how it works

Facebook messenger is an easy way to connect with your loved ones, and these are free! You just need an active internet connection and that’s it. You can go on to discuss all your crazy trips to recall your crazy memories easily. This also eliminates the limited call duration bar that you get with those call plans. So, if this describes your situation, then there’s good news for you. If you use this vintage Facebook Messenger for calls, you will soon find this latest update appearing on the app in the coming few days. Check out what is it!

Messenger calls tab: What’s new?

Meta’s popular social app, Messenger, is finally rolling out a dedicated ‘calls” tab for both the operating system, i.e. Android and iOS. It will be a more easy and convenient way to make calls for those who still use Facebook’s Messenger as their primary calling app.

The new tab is positioned ‘between the Chats and Peoples tab’ on the lower bar on the app’s screen. Earlier, users had to open separate threads to call anyone in their friend list, whether a friend or family. But now, they can call them directly. Messenger calls tab will also function as an introduction to those less familiar with Messenger’s calling features it is now more organised and easy-going. It is, although, not a massive change from the app. However, it’s definitely a useful one. Also, this step would take Messenger one step closer to WhatsApp as well.

When the Pandemic hit the world, Facebook Messenger came as the saviour of the hour. It become one of the most popular apps for video calling. According to Meta, audio and video calling on Messenger have increased by 4o per cent since early 2020. Messenger users worldwide conduct more than 300 million audio and video calls on a daily basis.

Earlier this year, Meta started rolling out end-to-end encrypted group chats and calls in Messenger. Support for end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) group chats and calls was first in August last year. While WhatsApp default encrypts all messages, Meta’s two other apps — Messenger and Instagram do not. But Meta does have plans to enable default end-to-end encryption in 2023. Messenger is one of the most popular cross-platform services, with over 1.3 billion users worldwide.

In other news, Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer of Facebook’s parent company Meta, has announced that she is leaving the company after 14 years. Her departure comes at a time when Meta (formerly known as Facebook) faces a slowdown in advertising sales and intense competition from TikTok.

Also Read: Motorola E32s ultra-affordable phone 15W fast charging launched in India

Global smartphone shipments expected to contract 3% in 2022: Here’s why

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Global Smartphone-Feature

The global shipments of total smartphone units in 2022 are expected to fall 3% YoY to 1.36 billion units, according to the latest findings from Counterpoint Research. Although shortages of several parts have not been resolved yet, the overall supply situation is expected to gradually improve in 2022 compared to the previous year, the study said.

On the macroeconomic front, expectations for recovery are now falling sharply and more concerns are spreading centered on China’s prolonged recession and the Ukraine crisis, it noted.

Counterpoint expects this year’s smartphone market to contract on the account of China’s zero-tolerance approach towards the latest COVID-19 resurgence, with lockdowns of cities and even entire regions, has been slowing down its economy, besides causing a chain reaction across the global economy due to the country’s closed factories and rising logistics costs.

 

Besides, consumer sentiment, as per the study, has contracted significantly recently due to the spread of global economic uncertainty and surging inflation due to the prolonged Russia- Ukraine war.

The study further said that due to the US dollar strength amid rising US interest rates, emerging economies will also face capital flight and inflation.

Peter Richardson, Vice President at Counterpoint Research, said, “For the long term, we continue to expect a steady migration from feature phones to smartphones, and 3G/4G to 5G smartphones. As efforts to spread low- and mid-priced 5G devices continue, the global market for 5G devices is expected to show healthy growth and act as a significant driver of the overall smartphone market.”

“Operators are actively promoting 5G, and the incentives are sufficient in many markets to cause consumers to switch to the new technology. However, the recent global inflation trends are hitting the consumer demand and smartphone BoM costs, acting as a risk for the 2022 smartphone market,” said Richardson.

However, the outlook for a smartphone market recovery in the second half still stands, said Liz Lee, Senior Analyst at Counterpoint. “At the end of May, the Chinese government convened a meeting for large-scale economic stability countermeasures. The government is expected to implement more aggressive policies to stimulate the economy in the second half,” said Lee.

“Besides, we believe that new foldable smartphone launches, led by Samsung, will be able to stimulate demand in the premium segment,” added Lee.

Also Read: What Kids Were Looking For During Spring 2022?

Motorola E32s ultra-affordable phone 15W fast charging launched in India

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Motorola E32s ultra-affordable phone 15W fast charging launched in India

Motorola has finally rolled out its ultra-budget smartphone: Motorola E32s starting today, June 2, 2022. It is an affordable smartphone paired with a 90Hz refresh rate, a powerful processor, and good battery power. It comes with pre-installed Android 12 software.

The smartphone has been introduced in such a budget-range segment said to be introduced at introductory pricing. The sale for this stunning smartphone will be available starting June 6, 2022. In this budget range, the smartphone will take on phones like Redmi 10A and Poco C31.

Motorola E32S: Price and availability in India

The latest smartphone from Motorola is available in two storage variants in India. The  3GB RAM +32GB storage variant is currently available at an introductory price of Rs 8,999. This is also for only a limited time of stock. The other 4GB RAM + 64GB storage version of the phone will set you back by Rs 9,999.

Motorola E32S: Price and availability in India

The smartphone will go live on sale in India starting June 6, 2022 (12 noon). It will be available on Jio Mart, Jio Mart Digital, Reliance Digital, and Flipkart.

Motorola E32S: Features and specs

Talking about the general specs of Moto E32s, it features a 6.5-inch IPS LCD display paired with a 90Hz refresh rate for smooth multi-tasking. Furthermore, it has a 720p resolution and a hole punch cut-out at the centre of the smartphone. The panel is protected by Panda Glass (which is claimed to be equivalent to Corning Gorilla Glass 3) and can peak 500nits, as the brand says.

Under the hood, the phone gets its power from a MediaTek Helio G37 chip paired with up to 4GB of RAM and up to 64GB of storage. It is also expandable using a microSD card. Moto E32s run a near-stock version of Android 12 and are confirmed to get 2-years of assured security updates.

Now, talking about the lasting power of this smartphone, it sports a 5,000mAh battery with 15W fast charging. Additionally, the brand has also included a 10W charger in the box, which is something very much needed.

On the optics part, you get a triple camera setup on the rear with a 16MP main, 2MP portrait, and another 2MP macro shooter. This houses an 8MP selfie camera at the front for selfies and video calls.

Moto E32s also have some additional features like a water-repellent (IP52) design and a side-mounted fingerprint reader. The phone will be available in two colourways— Misty Silver and Slate Gray.

Also Read:  Is Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 a comeback for Bollywood?

Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 Review: Is it worth watching?

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Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 has been hyped a lot because of several reasons, but the funny part is that this hype is not because of its story, direction, and cinematography but the unexpected success it got, which made me a bit confused as a viewer, about supporting this fresh release of Bollywood. There have been weeks of chatter not about the content of the film but the marketing and business around it! But at least from the Hindi film industry perspective, this movie comes as a refreshing change for exhibitors and distributors after “Gangubai Kathiawadi”.

Analysis and movie reviews are always dynamic and independent as it is based on how the audience is reacting and how is it affecting the mass viewership of the movie. As of now, chatters of social media are definitely giving “Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2” a strong push more than its native marketing gimmicks

Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 is the sequel to 2007, Akshay Kumar starrer classic Hindi film Bhool Bhulaiyaa which was a remake of the 1993 Malayalam film “Manichitrathazhu”. Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 is an extension of several of the spooky elements of the first film but essentially in a new storyline and in a new era with all new characters.

The movie starts with an incident where Monjolika and her powers were suppressed by a tantric inside a room that stays locked until Karthik Aryan opens it up.
The plot of the movie goes through a lot of confusion, lies, cover-ups, and naivety caused by Karthik Aryan and Kiara Advani together. Rohan Randhawa played by Karthik Aryan gets embroiled in a comedy of errors covering up for fake death staged by Kiara Advani. Later Rohan realizes that the mysterious elements are not just a myth but absolutely a horrifying truth buried inside the mansion. Rohan outwits his way through mystically horrifying elements and gradually understands the real intentions of the ghost.

So now, let’s talk about the good and bad aspects of the film so that you guys can ultimately decide whether to watch it in theaters or not.
I’m starting with the music because it sounded undeniably ill and naive. To be honest, I don’t want to get into a full comparison mode with the first film because of their different storylines and a different set of characters, still, I feel that even after being a loose extension to the previous movie the background score and songs could have been a lot better, especially when the music score is one of your marketing gimmicks to promote the movie.

As a viewer, I prefer the old music album over the new one which is very disappointing. Especially when it is composed by the same artist, who is Pritam in this case. He miserably failed to deliver a good background score with a nostalgic touch.

I thought that the background score of this film feels pale in comparison to the Akshay Kumar starrer Bhool Bhulaiyaa in 2007. However, Karthik tried his best to impress the audience with his dance moves but it isn’t something that will stand the test.

The romantic tracks of the film are also not so impressive. It seems that Arijit Singh was in no mood to ignite the romantic fire with his voice. The song failed to deliver the soulful impact of a romantic track that you may play on the loop.

Somehow, Farhad Samji has shockingly done better as compared to his previous movies. After going through the traumas like “Baaghi 3” and “Bachchan Pandey”, Bhool Bhulaiyaa can surely be said to be one of his best works as a writer which is still unbelievable for me.

However, in some of the comedic scenes, you can feel the presence of his lame writing but let’s ignore that and praise Farhad for not delivering one more trauma to Bollywood.
The story by Farhad Samji, assisted by Aakash Kaushik does guarantee laughs but with a mix of both good and lame humor, rather than a good package. The integration of Sanjay Mishra and Rajpal Yadav in the storyline earns the most hooting and cheering but sometimes you’ll realize that it’s just the bottom-of-the-barrel jokes that give a reflection of amateur writing.
Lines like “Mera Phone Tring Tring Nahi Karta Conjuring Conjuring Karta Hai!” made me cringe and yes it sounds crazy how much of a step up this film is compared to the otherwise crass and cringe comedy that usually is presented by a Farhad Samji written scripts.

I also felt that Karthik and Kiara’s romantic subplot could have been cut down as it would have made the film really crisp and engaging rather than having abrupt breaks for their chemistry to continue.
This movie goes on the mystical route rather than the deep-rooted mental issues that the first film explored. So for the people who are looking for a psychological thriller, it’s a complete deal-breaker.
Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 is simplistic in its approach to delivering a good entertaining fusion of horror and comedy for people who are looking for an entertaining weekend. Bhool Bhoolaiyaa 2, is altogether a good entertainer and a total hit in a miss, in times when Bollywood is going through a tragic tale of misfires !!

What Kids Were Looking For During Spring 2022?

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Kids watching smartphones Feature1

A new Kaspersky Safe Kids study has revealed the most viewed children’s interests between March and May 2022

This past spring has been full of popular events. The Oscars made headlines, many trending songs were released, and the creepy game ‘The Backrooms’ made a comeback. Children have been closely following all these events, which have influenced their interests. Kaspersky, a global cybersecurity and digital privacy company, analyzed anonymized data voluntarily provided by Kaspersky Safe Kids users, such as search queries, the most popular Android applications and website categories requested.

Events

As for popular events, Will Smith’s infamous Oscars’ slap globally captured kids’ attentions and was widely discussed throughout the spring. In addition to this, Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s divorce trial, and speculation about the Spiderman celebrity couple, Zendaya and Tom Holland, were trending pop-culture topics. Unexpectedly, children were also frequently searched UwU, which is an emoticon depicting a cute face.

Games

The gaming section also saw some slight changes over the spring. One interesting case is The Backrooms game, which has become popular among children in recent months. It is a creepypasta (referring to horror related content on the internet) that puts the player in an endless maze of randomly generated office rooms. It includes several levels that gamers must explore. In addition, the game, ‘Among US’ has been trending downwards for the past few months, with kids losing almost all interest in it.

Music

Music is also one of the most popular categories on YouTube. Among the top leaders was a new music video, ‘That That’, by PSY, produced with and featuring BTS star, SUGA. Another popular newcomer was ‘We Don’t Talk About Bruno (From “Encanto”)’.

Movies and cartoons

Speaking of movies and cartoons, a lot of children’s YouTube requests were devoted to the channel, My Story Animated. This channel animates stories, claimed to be real, sent to them by teenagers. For movies the leaders were ‘The Bad Guys’, ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 2’, ‘Rock Dog 2’ and ‘Heartstopper’.

Software, audio, video and more

This spring children were interested in the software, audio and video (43.6%); internet communication (17.2%); and e-commerce (16.1%) web categories. The most popular apps on Android included YouTube (31.6%), TikTok (19%) and WhatsApp (18.3%). For Windows programs, in first place with a huge lead, was Google Chrome (44.7%); Microsoft’s browser, Microsoft Edge, managed to get 12.6%; and in third place was messaging platform, Discord, with a share of 9.8%.

“New trends and events in popular culture have a significant impact on kids’ interests. Children’s passions change rapidly and for parents to better understand their little ones and build close relationships with them, it can be useful to explore their interests and hobbies together. Modern parental control apps are one way to help with this,” says Anna Larkina, web content analysis expert at Kaspersky.

Mentor your kids on online safety practices

To ensure children have a positive online experience, Kaspersky recommends that as a parent:

  • Involve yourself in your children’s online activities from an early age, so that this is the established norm, and you can then mentor them on online safety practices
  • Consider downloading parental control apps and discussing this topic with your child to explain how such apps work and why they’re needed to stay safe online
  • Make talks about cybersecurity more enjoyable and interesting by discussing it with your child through games and other entertaining formats
  • Spend more time communicating with your kids about online safety measures. Try paying attention to your own habits. Do you use your smartphone when eating or chatting? See if there are any patterns of your kids mimicking your habits? Do they react in a different way when you put your phone away?
  • Ask your child not to agree to any privacy settings on their own and to ask for help from you instead. Adults should get into the habit of reading all privacy agreements.

Also Read: Security Risks and Privacy Challenges in the Metaverse

Sonos launches Soundbar ‘Ray’ for a theatre-like sound experience

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Sonos launches Soundbar 'Ray' for a theatre-like sound experience

You can never have enough sound accessories on your desk. The music just moves around with you everywhere. And the magic when it comes from the soundbars is just unbelievable. It makes everything sound clear, great, and everyone’s favourite theatre-like. It is also such a blessing for those who like to snuggle in their bed all day, but still want that theatre feels at home! So, adding such a gadget to its accessory list, Sonos has announced a really fun invention today- Sonos Ray Soundbar. The brand has expanded its home theatre line-up, offering listeners a more affordable way to connect with the content they love. Here’s all that you can expect from it!

Sonos Ray Soundbar: Price and availability in India

Sonos Ray is a very compact gadget from the brand offering impressive sound quality for its given size. Ray is currently priced at an introductory amount of Rs 37,999. Users can grab the soundbar, starting September 2022.

Sonos Ray Soundbar: Price and availability in India

As with all Sonos products, the brand’s newest speaker delivers great sound that helps you play more, hear more and feel more. In a statement, Patrick Spence, CEO of Sonos, also said that “Homes have become movie theatres, fitness studios, gaming hubs and so much more, all supported by a streaming era that is no longer exclusive to just TV, music and film.” “Ray makes it easier than ever to enhance those listening experiences, thanks to its smaller size and impressive sound,” he adds further.

Sonos Ray Soundbar: Specs

With Sonos Ray, you can easily enhance your at-home entertainment with new acoustic innovations like balanced sound, crisp dialogue and solid bass. Here’s what you can expect from the blockbuster soundbar:

Room-Filling Sound

You know how a room gets filled with sound when you’re experiencing it at the theatre. Similarly, the Ray soundbar features custom-designed waveguides that project sound from wall to wall.

Sonos Ray Soundbar: Specs

It also has advanced processing that accurately positions elements throughout your room so you feel like you’re at the centre of the story.

Precisely Balanced

A sound accessory should be balanced when it comes to emitting bass and balance between high-low frequencies. A new bass reflex system with a proprietary design delivers thrilling lows with perfectly weighted bass, while custom acoustics precisely harmonize mid and high-range frequencies.

Tuned to Perfection

Like all Sonos speakers, Ray was tuned with the input of the Sonos Soundboard, a collection of leaders across music, film and more. It offers features like Fine-tune paired with Trueplay to create the ideal listening experience.

Enhanced Listening

This is one feature that is in-built into the would of this gadget. It sports Speech Enhancement which ensures that its users never miss a word with such enhanced quality. Furthermore, it has a Night Sound feature that reduces the intensity of loud effects so you don’t disturb anyone else at home.

Compact Design

Now, things to work fine with our busy life must be light weighted and easy to carry. Ray has both the qualities! Whether you’re placing it on your media stand or tucking it inside a credenza, Ray’s understated and impressively compact design can effortlessly blend into any space.

Sustainable Sound

Ray also features our most sustainable design packaging to date, with a gift box and protective cushions that are 100% post-consumer recycled paper.

Sonos Ray Soundbar: Specs and features

Ray brings the brand’s category-leading simplicity and versatility to a more accessible price point, making it easy to build your first home theatre setup or expand in more rooms. The new soundbar is compatible with all of your favourite streaming services, so you can enjoy movies, music and more with simple setup and control – just open the Sonos app and start listening in minutes. You can easily control Ray with your existing TV remote, the Sonos app, Apple AirPlay 2 and more. Add a pair of Ones to your home theatre setup for surround sound or connect to any Sonos speaker for multi-room listening.

Also Read: Google Duo to soon merge with Google Meet making it one ultimate video calling app

Google Duo to soon merge with Google Meet making it one ultimate video calling app

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Google Duo to soon merge with Google Meet making it one ultimate video calling app

Google’s popular conferencing app Google Duo is soon going to be merged with the primary Google Meet video conferencing app. So, speaking more simply, Google will have only one straightforward solution for video calling for both personal and enterprise users.

Google will integrate the present Google Meet functionality to Duo before the app is rebranded. Users of Duo will be able to arrange meetings in advance, change virtual backgrounds, use in-meeting chat, and receive real-time closed captioning, among other features.

Google Duo and Google Meet will merge soon

The company has confirmed via blog post that Google Duo and Google Meet are soon going to be one video calling app. Reportedly, this was about to happen back in 2020 and now it is official.

Google Duo and Google Meet will merge soon

In the blog post, the company has clearly said that it will bring “Google Meet features to the Duo app, so users can easily schedule a video meeting at a time that works for everyone, or continue using video calling to instantly connect with a person or group.” Later in the year, the Google Duo app will be renamed Google Meet, and thus Google will have one “single video communications service” for everyone at no cost.

Google Duo: Release date and features

Google Duo was released back in 2016, along with Google’s previous voice assistant, Allo. The duo was more widely used as the user could make a call straight to people’s phone numbers, making it easier to connect with them. Google Duo is somewhere very similar to Apple’s FaceTime.

The latter was a messaging app designed to take on WhatsApp. The Duo app was available on Android and iOS and was more of a video calling app designed to compete with FaceTime. While Allo was shut down in 2018, Duo had managed to survive so far, despite Google Meet getting more focus. But it looks like this will join the long list of Google’s failed apps/projects.

For Google Duo users, the good news is that you will not have to download a new app. According to the blog, one simply needs to ensure they have the latest version of Duo on their device, which will be updated to Google Meet once the changes start rolling out.

The post adds that the changes will impact admins for G Suite accounts and end-users. “We’re committed to making the transition from Duo to Meet as smooth as possible. Admins will receive an email detailing the impact on their organization,” Google notes.

Google will also add some new features to the Duo mobile app starting this month. These include the option to customise virtual backgrounds in calls and meetings, schedule meetings, in-meeting chats, and live sharing of content similar to Google Meet. Google also plans to add “real-time closed captions to better support accessibility” and will increase the participant limit from 32 to 100 for Duo.

Google Duo will also “integrate with other tools, including Gmail, Google Calendar, Assistant, Messages and more,” adds the blog.

Meanwhile, IT admins who manage G-suite accounts for business users can manage Duo video calling access by “features by turning off the Additional Google services control.” This applies only to Duo video calling features, but will not impact Meet functionality.

For those admins handling school accounts, Duo remains restricted for anyone under 18 and no settings need to change. However, the post notes that “if you have the Additional Google services control enabled, users over 18 will continue to have access to Duo calling features.”

Regular users just need to make sure they have the latest version of Duo to get all the latest features. The changes will come to all Google Workspace customers, legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers, and all users with personal Google Accounts.

Google Meet is the company’s answer to Zoom. It lets G-Suite users (aka the business and enterprise users), as well as personal Gmail users, set up and host their own video calls.

Also Read: iQOO Neo 6 becomes No. 1 best-selling smartphone on first day of its launch

iQOO Neo 6 becomes No. 1 best-selling smartphone on first day of its launch

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iQOO Neo 6-1

The newly-launched iQOO Neo 6 smartphone claims to have received an overwhelming response from the customers and has become the No. 1 best-selling smartphone on first day of its launch on Amazon.in in 30K segment. The smartphone, unveiled on Tuesday (May 31) this week only, brings exceptional performance and revolutionary power, iQOO claimed in a statement.

“iQOO Neo 6 offers cutting-edge technological innovation, premium performance, and excellent gaming experience that meet the needs of today’s consumers both in entertainment and daily necessities,” said Nipun Marya, Chief Executive Officer at iQOO India.

He further said, “We are immensely delighted to see the staggering response from our consumers for Neo 6 making it a bestseller smartphone on amazon.in. We appreciate positive feedback from our users that motivates us to bring more innovative products and technologies in the future.”

iQOO Neo 6 specifications

To recap, the smartphone is powered by Snapdragon 870 5G SoC, and has a 120Hz E4 AMOLED display, HDR 10+ certification to provide ultimate performance experience. It comes equipped with 36907mm2 Cascade Cooling System, 1200Hz instant touch sampling rate and 4D Game Vibration with X-Axis Linear Motor to provide uncompromised gaming experience. The newly-launched iQOO Neo 6 features a 4,700mAh battery which is supported by 80W flashcharge technology. According to the company, 50% battery charging can be done in just 12 minutes.

In terms of optics, the iQOO Neo 6 features a triple camera setup that has a 64MP OIS main camera with GW1P sensor, an 8MP wide-angle camera that can take wide-angle shots at 116°, and a 2MP macro lens.

For gaming enthusiasts, the smartphone has AnTuTu benchmark score of more than 740000, which allows industry-leading performance in the segment. Its 120Hz E4 AMOLED display makes colour transition more natural, reducing strain on your eyes. Additionally, the peak brightness of 1300 nits allows clear view of the picture even under the strong outdoor light.

Pricing and availability

The smartphone comes in two colour options – Dark Nova and Cyber Rage – and is priced at Rs 29,999 (effective price: Rs 25,999) for 8GB+128GB and Rs 33,999 (effective price: Rs 29,999) for the 12GB+256GB variant.  It’s available for purchase on Amazon.in and iQOO e-store. Additionally, the iQOO is providing two years of Android and three years of monthly security updates on Neo 6.

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