Tech Talk

Zoom has been beefing up its security measures ever since it vowed to fix its “biggest trust, safety and privacy issues.” Now the company has revealed that it has officially formed a security advisory council and that one of its members is Alex Stamo... Source: https://ift.tt/2yOLFBP

Commercial real estate owners, brokers, and landlords have collectively made many hundreds of billions of dollars a year in recent years as the economy zipped along. Now, they’re getting clobbered by the pandemic-fueled economic crisis. Worse, their industry may be forever changed by it. To state the obvious, extracting rent from nearly anyone right now is problematic. According to the National Multifamily Housing Council, just 69 percent of U.S. households had paid their rent by April 5 compared with the 81 percent who’d paid by March 5 and the 82 percent who paid by the same time last year. That statistic will almost assuredly look worse by May 5, given the soaring numbers of both laid-off and furloughed employees. On the commercial side, the problem is beginning to look as dire. In addition to the countless small retail and restaurant businesses that may be forced to permanently vacate their commercial spaces because they can no long afford them, a growing number of corporate

With Mobile World Congress canceled, the calendar for new phone introductions is up in the air, but LG is already moving towards a new device, and tonight teased the “design language” for another phone. Presumably this device will represent the next... Source: https://ift.tt/2Vcv8Pv

Numerous tech and automotive companies have stepped up to make ventilators during the COVID-19 pandemic, and that now includes gaming PC builders. Maingear has developed a ventilator, the LIV, that uses an old version of its F131 PC case as the chass... Source: https://ift.tt/3aVEg1E

Windows 10X and Surface Neo may not be shipping this year after all. What you need to know Windows 10X will not be launching in 2020. This means PCs like Surface Neo are delayed. Surface Duo still on track for 2020. Microsoft's upcoming Windows 10X and Surface Neo products may not be shipping in time for the holiday after all, according to a new report from ZDNet's Mary-Jo Foley. This means that other Windows 10X devices from third-party manufactures also won't be launching at the end of this year like originally planned. Microsoft's dual-screen Windows 10X effort has been put on pause. I have also heard that Windows 10X has been delayed beyond 2020. Interestingly, Mary-Jo Foley says that Microsoft wants to prioritize bringing Windows 10X to single-screen devices first, a monumental shift in strategy for Windows 10X as a whole, which so far has been all about dual-screen support. Windows 10X on a single-screened Surface is codenamed Pegasus, and is an e

If it wasn’t already clear that Google is less than fond of the Hangouts name, it is now. As noticed by Android Police, the internet giant has rebadged Hangouts Meet as Google Meet. The old branding is still present for mobile apps. However, we would... Source: https://ift.tt/2UVNOnH

Five months after launching, and with millions of people stuck at home, Disney's streaming service Disney+ now has 50 million subscribers, reports Deadline . Disney+ in early February had 28.6 million subscribers, which means the streaming service has grown by 21.4 million subscribers in the last two months. Much of the boost can be attributed to recent launches of the service in the UK, Ireland, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria, France, Switzerland, and India. 50 million subscribers is ahead of Disney's own figures. When unveiling the service, Disney estimated that it would garner 60 to 90 million subscribers worldwide by the end of 2024, and if growth keeps up, Disney will hit that goal this year. Apple has not released subscriber numbers, which means there's no direct comparison to Disney+. Since September, Apple has been providing a free year of service to everyone who purchases a new Apple device, so it will take over a year until Apple has large numbers of paying

Foxconn and other factories in China have implemented stringent measures to prevent the another viral outbreak in the country, according to an overview of the practices shared today by The Washington Post . Pages from a manual issued by Foxconn that covers rules employees must follow. Image from The Washington Post. Apple iPhone supplier Foxconn, for example, has organized workers into teams of 20 who stick together day and night for health tracking purposes. "The same group of employees work, travel, live, and eat together to ensure that employees' personal trajectories are fully traced," reads a notice from the Zhengzhou government where Foxconn is located. A Foxconn employee told The Washington Post that workers are provided with a face mask and have their temperatures checked regularly, plus there are infrared cameras to check people for fevers as they walk by. Foxconn said that it is also using nucleic acid tests and chest x-rays when required, and it has pr

The classic Hangouts app was shuttered earlier this year and bifurcated into Hangouts Chat and Hangouts Meet. What you need to know The Hangouts brand may be going to the Google graveyard soon. Based on changes in the company's communications, it seems like Google will be dropping the "Hangouts" from Hangouts Meet. Whether the change will be replicated with Hangouts Chat, and signify the end of the Hangouts brand entirely, remains to be seen. Hangouts, as a product, has had a troubled history since the beginning. Envisioned as Google's end-all, be-all chat and video calling solution to take on iMessage and FaceTime, it never really caught on with as many customers as Google would have liked. So, the company decided to shutter the classic app and split the product into two earlier this year: the consumer-focused Hangouts Chat and an enterprise-oriented video conferencing tool, Hangouts Meet. The latter, at least, may soon be dropping the Hangouts in its na

Last year Microsoft added a Spotify integration to its Xbox Game Bar on the PC, and now it will be able to offer far more third-party support. That’s because it has introduced a new Game Bar Widget Store, as well as an SDK for outside developers to p... Source: https://ift.tt/2Xlhooe

Rakuten Mobile announced the full commercial launch of its low-cost data plan in Japan today. Priced at 2,980 yen (about $27) per month, the plan gives users unlimited calls and data where Rakuten has its own networks. The company also raised the amount of domestic roaming data in response to increased usage of remote working and online education tools. Earlier this week, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared a state of emergency in seven prefectures, including Tokyo, after a new wave of COVID-19 cases in March. The order gives prefectural leaders the power to request closure of stores and businesses considered non-essential. Public schools in Tokyo and surrounding areas closed earlier this year and are not expected to re-open until early May. In addition to serving increased need for online services during the pandemic, Rakuten Mobile’s pricing may also help it compete against Japan’s largest carriers–NTT Docomo, KDDI and SoftBank. Rakuten Mobile uses what the company says is the wo

Phos , the U.K. fintech that offers a software-only PoS so that merchants can accept payments directly on their phones without the need for additional hardware, has raised €1.3 million in funding. The round was led by New Vision 3, an early-stage VC based in Bulgaria (where a part of the Phos team is based), with participation from a number of unnamed angel investors. It brings the total raised by Phos to date to €2.5 million, and will be used to grow the development team. This will see new features introduced, such as ‘PIN on Phone’, a Software Development Kit (SDK), and a new integrated loyalty system. Founded in 2018, Phos has developed software that turns any NFC-equipped Android device into a payments terminal, negating the need for additional hardware and reducing total cost of ownership. The startup says its solution is quick to deploy, and is “uniquely” phone and bank agnostic i.e. any bank can act as the acquirer. “Millions of traders and merchants do not accept card paym

The stable version of Chrome 81 has arrived for Windows, Mac and Linux after a couple of weeks of delay brought about by the coronavirus pandemic. As ZDNet notes, Google had to move some of the features it was supposed to ship with to future versions... Source: https://ift.tt/2UUebdQ

On this episode of the Windows Central Podcast: A new consumer subscription, features in Edge, the latest with Skype and Zoom, and more. We're back with another exciting episode of the Windows Central Podcast, and this week, There's a ton of news for Microsoft users this week as Daniel and Zac talk about features in Microsoft 365 and Edge. In a world of Zoom security nightmares, Skype Meet Now can be a safer alternative. Daniel reviews the HP Spectre x360 and ASUS ROG Zepyrus G14 laptops. While Zac reports on the finished but as-of-yet unreleased Windows 10 version 2004. They finish out the episode with some info about Minecraft Dungeons and new processors from AMD and Intel. This episode of the Windows Central Podcast was recorded on April 3rd 2020. Links: Microsoft 365: Everything you need to know about Microsoft's new productivity subscription | Windows Central Meet Now feature on Skype makes it easy to invite anyone to a Skype call | Windows Central HP Spec

MyBuddy.ai , a startup that develops virtual tools to help kids learn English, announced today that it has raised $1 million in seed funding from LETA Capital. The capital will be used to expand into new markets and develop new features including mini-classes about health. The San Francisco-based company’s app features a AI-based virtual tutor called Buddy who coaches kids through a series of exercises. According to MyBuddy.ai, there are 500 million children around the world who want to learn English, but don’t have someone to practice the language with. It claims that its app has been downloaded more than one million times since launching two years ago. In a press statement, MyBuddy.ai co-founder and CEO Ivan Crewkov said, “The demand for online education is rising sharply due to the pandemic. This has exacerbated the chronic shortage of qualified English language teachers needed for half a billion kids struggling to learn English as a second language. Our AI-powered tutor Buddy ca

This week brings the first home release of a major movie at the same time that it premieres in theaters (or, would if they were open), with Trolls World Tour available via video on-demand services for $20. If that’s not your speed, then Cats is avail... Source: https://ift.tt/3aU7PAu

Take a walk down memory lane and see all the phones OnePlus launched over the last six years. OnePlus burst onto the scene back in April 2014 . Its first phone was released in partnership with Cyanogen, and from the very beginning, OnePlus set itself apart by focusing on its user community. Whereas other manufacturers flooded the market with phones, OnePlus released just two flagships a year, with the brand laser-focused on the value category. Six years and 18 phones later, OnePlus is a dominant player in the smartphone industry. OnePlus defined the value segment for several years, and its penchant for delivering the best possible performance has led to some of the fastest phones money can buy. OnePlus also managed to turn its OxygenOS user interface into one of the best skins on Android. With the OnePlus 8 set to be unveiled on April 14, I thought it would be interesting to see how OnePlus phones have evolved over the years. While OnePlus has switched to more exotic materials