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video calls

Meta now lets you make video calls using a cartoon avatar

Users of Messenger and Instagram may now answer as well as initiate video calls using their avatars, according to a recent announcement by Meta. The business claims that customers will be able to participate in video chats even when they are not ready for screen time due to the latest capability.

As a consequence, you and your peers may converse and stare at each other on an animated video conference without really seeing one another.

video calls
Image Source: mashable.com

“We’ve all been there: A call comes in but your hair looks like a hot mess,” Meta wrote in a blog post. “Or you’ve just been bawling your eyes out while re-watching From Scratch. Sometimes, we’re just not camera-ready. Wouldn’t it be great if there were a third option between camera-off and camera-on to let you feel a little more present on the call? Cue your Meta Avatar.”

Source: techcrunch.com

For those who prefer not to show their faces during some video calls, the concept of making real-time conversations behind your avatar may be an enjoyable twist. Furthermore, when you might simply make a phone call to a colleague or loved one, it could seem a little strange and disturbing to interact that way.

Android, as well as iOS, have access to the new features.

The announcement made yesterday included some further details on avatars that Meta provided. The business said that it is developing a simpler method of creating characters on WhatsApp and Facebook where you’ll be able to snap a live picture and get an avatar suggestion based on your selfie. You can select one of these alternatives and further customize it to best reflect your personality.

Also Read: Meta’s Threads Is Here. What It Is and How to Use It

Additionally, Meta stated that animated character stickers may now be shared in Fb comments, Instagram 1 on 1 conversation threads, Story posts on Instagram, and Facebook Reels as well. You can share stickers that depict your avatar performing specific behaviors, such as dancing or slowly clapping.

Meta is also introducing stickers that will let users’ avatars interact with those of their friends. Now that you may tag a few people in Facebook Stories, your avatars will co-appear in a sticker with those of your pals. With the new “Social Stickers” feature, you may share stickers with only one buddy in 1:1 conversation threads.

“No one wants to look like a cake pop, and now, you don’t have to,” the company wrote in the blog post. “We’re standardizing the look of our avatars across all our platforms, so the way you show up in VR will match how you show up on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp. Not only does that mean your avatar will look a little more realistic, it also means you’ll be better able to show off your ’fits since the focus won’t be drawn to your comically oversized noggin.”

Source: techcrunch.com
Windows 11

Windows 11 finally gets native RAR support

Place a vote for WinRAR, since Microsoft has recently revealed that Windows 11 will have native support for RAR and several additional archive file formats, which users of Windows have been awaiting for years. This is ideal if you are swimming in a sea of documents.

Windows 11
Image Source: bleepstatic.com

“We have added native support for additional archive formats, including tar, 7-zip, rar, gz and many others using the lib archive open-source project,” says Windows chief Panos Panay in a blog post today. “You now can get improved performance of archive functionality during compression on Windows.”

Source: theverge.com

Microsoft said that following this week, compatibility with the new formats will likely be available in an updated work-in-progress version.

Also Read: Microsoft Build 2023: Big Announcements

In either scenario, those using Windows 11 will benefit greatly from the incorporation of tar, 7-zip, rar, and numerous other formats. You won’t need to download any additional programs in order to view these types of files. Although probably somewhat more effective compared to native ZIP functionality is the incorporation.

It went on for more than 30 years for Windows to finally allow support for the.rar file despite the need for any other software to be installed. It was one of many competing compression software or “applications,” because that’s how they were known back then, that were utilized to reduce large file collections so that they would be transported more quickly over our dreadfully slow internet connection.

But as time went on, the demand for applications such as WinRAR decreased because both drive space, as well as network bandwidth, expanded rapidly.

If you are considering calling your connection as broadband, the few MBs that used to take overnight to be downloaded and took up a sizeable section of the hard disc have become the absolute minimum that can be sent in just one second. Additionally, there are a growing number of open-source protocols and solutions, such as the “libarchive” project.

Also Read: WhatsApp to allow users to edit messages?

Given that many users pay bucks to utilize WinRaR’s file compression software, it is going to be fascinating to observe how it responds to this development, and what occurs to people who already purchased WinRaR given that everyone with a Windows 11 Computer can use it free of cost. 

“First of all, we feel honored with Microsoft’s decision. This will hopefully make RAR compression even more popular and more accessible to those users who are not familiar with WinRAR,” Louise in the sales and marketing division at Microsoft wrote.

Source: techcrunch.com
WhatsApp

WhatsApp to allow users to edit messages?

Users of WhatsApp will soon be able to edit messages, a feature already present in Telegram and Signal as well as other messaging services.

The Meta-owned app stated that messages could be edited for up to 15 minutes after being delivered in a Monday update. Within the next several weeks, the updated feature is anticipated to be made available to WhatsApp with approximately 2 billion users.

whatsapp
Image Source: news9live.com

The company said in a blog post on Monday that it was “excited to bring you more control over your chats,” adding that “from fixing a simple misspelling to adding extra context to a message.”

Also Read: Is Delphox good in Pokemon GO PvP?

An “edited” notification will be presented next to messages that have been edited, but the edit history will not be visible, making it impossible for users to see what the post originally said. By pressing down on a message and choosing “edit” from the pop-up menu that appears, the feature can be used.

“From correcting a simple misspelling to adding extra context to a message, we’re excited to bring you more control over your chats. All you need to do is long-press on a sent message and choose ‘Edit’ from the menu for up to fifteen minutes after. ”, the company wrote in a blog post-Monday.

Several competing messaging services, including Telegram and Signal, already include message editing capabilities. In the meanwhile, Twitter gives users of its Twitter Blue service a 30-minute message editing window.

Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of Meta, alerted people to the WhatsApp change by posting a screenshot of the message on his Facebook page, which had been edited from “Beast of luck!” to “Best of luck!” About ten years ago, Facebook, which is also owned by Meta, began to make it possible to alter posts and comments.

Users can modify posts on Instagram, a Meta social media platform, but not comments. The UK government and Meta are at odds over the latter’s most well-known feature, end-to-end encryption, which makes sure that only the sender and recipient can see messages.

Also Read: Why Is Minecraft Server Mineplex Shutting Down?

In recent years, Meta, which also holds Instagram and Facebook, has been renowned for attempting to copy rival apps—some of which have been more successful than others. Following an unsuccessful attempt to acquire the fleeting photo app Snapchat, the company launched Instagram Stories in 2013 with considerable success.

Later attempts to imitate the neighborhood communication app Nextdoor and the celebrity video app Cameo, however, were both abandoned by the company.

According to recent reports, the corporation is getting ready to release a Twitter clone as early as June with an emphasis on “creators and public figures.”

Chrome

Google Chrome rolls out long-awaited battery-saving features

Google Chrome is considered one of the top Android internet browsers, and it boasts feature equality with the desktop application.

Google Chrome has evolved into a resource hog in the time frame of 14 years ever since its release, consuming an increasing percentage of your system’s storage as well as battery life with evidently complete impunity.

Chrome
Image Source: betanews.com

When Chrome 108 was released in December, Google set out on a mission to rid the search engine of its notoriety for always being resource-hungry, introducing two additional utility services called Memory Saver & Energy Saver. Both of these features are now readily accessible on Chrome 110 for desktop pcs.

Chrome’s brand-new Memory Saver functionality helps to optimize resource consumption by focusing on improving active tabs as well as other apps, as announced in December.

Also Read: Meta Launches Subscription Service for Facebook and Instagram

Deactivated tabs are snoozed as well as demoted to the background and even though continue to appear within the tab strip; users can load up a non-active tab as well as verify the Omnibox alert to determine how much Computer Memory Saver has released for those other tasks.

Energy Saver is nearly identical, but it works to decrease Chrome’s battery usage on notebooks & Chromebooks. Users can set Energy Saver to begin immediately as their battery level falls below 20 percent. When activated, you’ll notice a leaf symbol next to the Omnibox as well as an absence of huge stunning visuals.

Google explains that it accomplishes these battery savings by deactivating seamless browsing and website visual effects, as well as lowering video frame rates.

The brand-new Memory Saver & Energy Saver functionalities are automatically enabled on Chromebooks, Windows, as well as Macs beginning with the stable channel update of Chrome 110. Furthermore, you could always disable or limit the functionality of these functions, which is as simple as removing online sites from Memory Saver so they do not snooze.

Also Read: Google Staff in Zurich Stage Walkout Over Job Cuts

To perform effectively, Chrome as well enables you to enable Energy Saver automatically when the charger is disconnected.

Memory Saver, as well as Energy Saver options, are obtainable in the Performance tab of Google Chrome. Energy Saver doesn’t appear to be present on desktop computers for understandable reasons. If you have upgraded to Chrome 110 and have yet to see the latest toggle button, you might need to allow the mentioned flags by entering them in the Omnibox afterward and setting them to “Enabled.”

chrome://flags/#battery-saver-mode-available

chrome://flags/#high-efficiency-mode-available

business directory

WhatsApp To Soon Launch New Yellow Pages-Style Business Directory

WhatsApp is formally debuting a brand-new business directory feature in the UK, Colombia, Brazil, Indonesia, and Mexico. The new tools will be introduced for the first time in Brazil, one of Whatsapp’s largest markets, outside of pilot projects.

business directory
Image Source: wired.co.uk

WhatsApp has revealed the release of a business directory feature that supports in-app transactions. Users can use this feature to find nearby businesses. Users can look up the business by categories including banking, dining, and travel.

After a brief test in So Paulo, Brazil, last year, WhatsApp decided to officially launch the service. In Brazil, the feature is only accessible through Android, however, it is accessible through both Android and iOS in the other four countries.

Read More: WhatsApp Rolls Out New Feature for Group Chats

At a meeting in Brazil devoted to WhatsApp, the company said that the “business search” tool will help people find contacts for businesses more quickly. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, noted, “We want to make it easier for people to get more done on WhatsApp.

Part of that is building better ways to engage with businesses. The ultimate goal here is to make it so you can find, message, and buy from a business all in the same WhatsApp chat.” To start a conversation with a business on Whatsapp, users previously had to enter a mobile number to their phone contacts or follow a link on a different site.

The feature’s release coincides with WhatsApp’s increased marketing of itself as a platform for users to contact businesses in addition to family and friends. According to Meta, more than 175 million users use WhatsApp to communicate with business accounts daily as of October 2020.

Other e-commerce-related features have also been introduced to the service, such as support for in-app shopping.. According to a press statement from WhatsApp, the merchant payments functionality is now being tested in Brazil “with multiple payment partners.”

The business-oriented features of WhatsApp are noteworthy since they represent one of the few means the platform is monetized using the WhatsApp Business API. It doesn’t similarly display ads as Instagram and Facebook, two of Meta’s other top services, do. However, a Meta executive told Reuters a year ago that WhatsApp’s business model “in some form or another” is likely to include adverts in the future.

With the debut of person-to-person payments in 2020, Meta recently announced WhatsApp’s “first-ever end-to-end shopping experience” in India with JioMart earlier this year.  However, the expansion in Brazil has been more delayed. The payments function of WhatsApp was shut down by Brazil’s national bank in 2020, not long after it was introduced.

The Financial Times reported in April of this year that Meta was having trouble obtaining payment providers for its payment-to-merchant service.

Over 2 billion people use WhatsApp worldwide. According to the company’s quarterly earnings, which were cited by TechCrunch last month, the click-to-WhatsApp ad business had increased revenue by 80% year over year and was on course to reach $1.5 billion annually.

Recently, Meta reported its first-ever yearly revenue drop and laid off over 11,000 employees.

whatsapp

WhatsApp Rolls Out New Feature for Group Chats

WhatsApp has been striving to improve the user- experience of group users. The Facebook-owned messaging application a while back increased the maximum number of members in a group. It also unveiled a brand-new Communities feature, which enables WhatsApp users to manage numerous groups under a single roof.

whatsapp
Image Source: indiatoday.in

The corporation has officially started to introduce new group functionalities for desktop users. According to WABetaInfo, WhatsApp is launching a new feature that will enable some beta testers on Desktop beta to view profile photos inside of group chats.

For quite some time, the new WhatsApp feature, which permits PC users to view profile photos within group chats, has been in the works, and statements about the feature have indeed been sighted in previous beta versions.

According to the report’s screenshot, the feature will also allow you to view an image of the member in the group chat screen just beside their name. As of now, the app only displays the names of the members.

Read More: Zuckerberg Announces 32-Person Video Calling Feature for Whatsapp

To determine whether you have gotten the latest feature, you just have to open a group chat. As previously stated, the feature is currently only available to beta users. However, the company is expected to roll out the feature in a public upcoming update.

WhatsApp officially unveiled a companion mode for smartphone users having Android in the form of a beta update. According to a report by WABetaInfo, a few fortunate beta testers on the Android system are now able to use the WhatsApp companion mode which was highly awaited.

The feature was previously available to just a few Android-based tablet users last month, and it is now accessible to mobile phone users as well. You could use a single WhatsApp account on some other smartphone with the help of the new companion mode.

However, my updates and bugs are still going on. Users will experience a series a changes.

WhatsApp is yet to fix two bugs disclosed by WABetaInfo. A tweet quoted, “Some users are experiencing crashes when downloading videos after installing the latest version of WhatsApp beta for Android. In addition, WhatsApp may continuously play a conversation tone when sending a message.”

Source: thehindubusinessline.com