Microsoft first let developers build third-party apps into Teams last year, but the company is going a step further at Build 2021 today. In a push to get more app developers building for Teams, Microsoft is opening up its crucial APIs, Teams Store, and tools to what it calls collaborative apps.
Developers will soon be able to build apps that plug into the Teams meeting canvas, ones that use in-app purchases or subscriptions, and even create separate apps that get access to Teams’ real-time video and audio streams. “If you can build web apps, you can build extensions into Teams chats, channels, and meetings,” explains Jeff Teper, head of Microsoft 365 collaboration, in an interview with The Verge. “You can build once, run, deploy anywhere.”
This means apps built for Teams will work across Windows, Mac, the web, iOS, Android, and even Linux. While we’ve seen some apps that plug into the meeting canvas previously, Microsoft is launching a preview that will allow devs to share apps like whiteboards and project boards and share apps more directly into the meetings area in Teams. Microsoft is also making it easier for devs to create these apps with greater integration into Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code.
Custom Together Mode scenes are on the way.Image: Microsoft
Microsoft’s Together Mode for Teams, which uses AI to segment your face and shoulders and place you and your co-workers together in a virtual space, is also being opened up. “We’re giving people a toolkit so they can design their own Together Modes scenes,” says Teper. “We’re pretty excited to see what people come up with.”
Later this summer, Microsoft will also allow third-party apps to access real-time audio and video streams from Teams. This will primarily allow for transcription or note-taking apps to process audio and video coming out of Teams, but it will also enable devs to create bespoke apps that access Teams.
Real-time access to Teams for transcription, note-taking, and more.Image: Microsoft
“Somebody could build a completely custom application that is different than the Teams UI and that app can interoperate with Teams via voice, video, or chat,” explains Teper. An example could be a hospital that wants to build a connection from their telehealth app into Teams to enable video calls.
Microsoft will also allow developers to sell their own subscriptions within their Teams apps. This opens up the Teams Store to in-app purchases. Microsoft hasn’t gone into detail on whether it takes a cut on sales here, but Teper is keen to point out Microsoft’s main focus is building an ecosystem of apps. “We may make some money in the marketplace, but our primary business model will be the Microsoft 365 licenses and the Azure and Power platform licenses that developers consume,” says Teper.
With 145 million daily active users of Microsoft Teams, there certainly could be an appetite for more apps that plug into and appear inside of Teams meetings. Microsoft has always positioned Teams as a hub for productivity, and these latest announcements are clearly designed to make Teams a little more developer-friendly.
Flexibits — best known for its popular calendar application, Fantastical — has a new, overhauled version of its contact management application Cardhop out today, which updates the app with new features and a fresh coat of paint.
But most importantly, like Fantastical before it, Cardhop is also switching to a subscription model. The contact app is being added for free to the existing Fantastical Premium subscription that Flexibits introduced last year. And to mark that expanded scope, Fantastical Premium is also getting a new name: Flexibits Premium.
The original Mac and iOS versions of Cardhop previously cost $19.99 and $4.99, respectively. However, similar to Fantastical, Flexibits will now be offering a more limited, free version of both of those applications to anyone, with more advanced functionality (including many of the new features being introduced with the new version of the app) locked to subscribers.
Flexibits, crucially, isn’t changing the price of its subscription program to go with the newly added app. Flexibits Premium will still cost $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year for an individual user, or $7.99 per month or $64.99 per year for up to five family members.
Existing Cardhop owners will still be able to access any features that were already present in their existing apps from before the switch to the subscription model without having to pay (also similar to the Fantastical switch). They just won’t get any major new features going forward.
Cardhop 2.0 does add a variety of new features, though. There’s a new Relationships mode, which can generate family trees for contacts that you’ve set relationships between or — if you have Google or Office 365 accounts linked — org charts.
The iOS version of Cardhop has a new business card scanning feature, which does exactly what it says on the can, and there are new widgets for both macOS and iOS that can be customized to add quick links to call, text, or interact with a contact using any of Cardhop’s actions. (Want a link to quickly FaceTime a friend? Now you can.)
And given that Cardhop and Fantastical are now bundled together, there are also some deeper ties with the Flexibits calendar app. A new “Invite with Fantastical” action makes it easy to invite contacts (or whole groups of contacts) to events. Scanning a business card also gives an option to quickly follow up with an instant calendar meeting.
The new version of Cardhop is available to download now for Mac, iPhone, and iPad.
TikTok has changed the voice on its text-to-speech feature, just weeks after an actor claiming to be the original voice filed a lawsuit claiming she never agreed to be featured in the app.
The new voice has been showing up in TikToks over the past day — often in videos of people commenting on the change. It sounds a bit more energetic and upbeat, creating a very different vibe than the droll monotone of the prior voice. The feature allows TikTok users to type out text and then have it read aloud over their videos, and it’s often used as a narrator.
This new voice appears to be a response to a lawsuit filed against TikTok owner ByteDance earlier this month. Voice actor Bev Standing claimed that she was the voice behind TikTok’s text-to-speech feature and that she had never agreed to work with the company. Standing said she had done voice recordings meant to be used for translations, but that she hadn’t authorized use of her voice beyond that specific instance.
The lawsuit concerns the English-language voice used in North America. Videos made prior to the change still feature the old tone.
TikTok has yet to comment on Standing’s lawsuit or the new voice. But this week’s change suggests the company is taking her lawsuit seriously.
If you’re a Nintendo Switch owner, you’re probably already familiar with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. It remains one of the most ambitious and charming Zelda titles to date. But like most first-party Nintendo games, it’s one that rarely receives a sizeable discount. Right now, though, you can purchase a physical edition of the beloved title at GameStop for $40, with free shipping. The popular retailer is also offering a host of other first- and third-party games at a discount as part of its ongoing Memorial Day sale, including standouts such as Persona V Strikers, Splatoon 2, and Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze. Now, if only Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate wouldmake the cut.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
$40
$60
34% off
Prices taken at time of publishing.
Four years after launch, TheLegend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild remains a masterpiece. The first-party title offers all of the hallmarks of a traditional Zelda title, including challenging combat and puzzles, but within a gorgeous, open-ended design.
$40
at GameStop
If you’re more of an Xbox gamer looking for something to let you play games while on the go, Microsoft just updated its Cloud Gaming app on the Surface Duo to let you use one of the screens as a virtual controller. Conveniently, Amazon has both the 128GB and 256GB versions of the Surface Duo on sale for $619 and $656, respectively, once you clip the 25 percent coupon. These models are locked to AT&T, however, so you’ll need to have an AT&T SIM card and service to use them when outside of a Wi-Fi network.
If gaming isn’t your thing, but you’re still in the market for a professional monitor, the Dell 27-inch U2719DX is worth consideration. Currently on sale at Best Buy for $250 — an all-time low — the QHD 1440p peripheral offers color-accurate visuals and a thin profile, one that looks as sturdy as it is ergonomic. It tops out at 60Hz and lacks the USB-C connectivity found on pricier displays such as the like-minded U2719DC. But given it’s currently more than $100 off, the lack of futureproofing is a bit more understandable.
Dell 27-inch U2719DX monitor
$250
$350
29% off
Prices taken at time of publishing.
Dell’s 27-inch U2719DX Monitor is built for simplicity. It sports a sturdy, swivel-reliant design and 60Hz refresh rate, along with a three-warranty, accurate colors, and a healthy port selection that, sadly, doesn’t include USB-C.
$250
at Best Buy
If you have no intention of making the jump to iPad Pro with the M1 processor, picking up a keyboard is a great way to make the most of the last-gen iPad Pro. Luckily, Amazon is offering the biggest discount we’ve seen in recent months on Apple’s Smart Keyboard Folio Case for the 12.9-inch iPad Pro. The protective fabric-lined case magnetically attaches to the back of either the 2018 or 2020 iPad Pro, provides two viewing angles, and is a joy to type on, though, we still wouldn’t recommend it as your primary writing device. For a limited time, you can pick it up for more than $100 off the initial list price at Amazon.
Public, the trading and social networking app, is the next app to get into live audio. Like many apps before it, the company says it’s planning to roll out live audio features starting this week under the name Public Live. Unlike its competitors, like Clubhouse and Twitter Spaces, however, Public will initially program these chats with moderators it pays, meaning not just anyone can start a conversation. It’ll host about three events a week, and users will receive a push notification to join, along with a badge inside the app allowing them to hop into it. Topics might include coverage of an upcoming IPO, the day’s news, or analysis.
The first chat will be between Scott Galloway, who co-hosts the Pivot podcast and is an investor in the app, and Stephanie Ruhle, an NBC News senior business correspondent and MSNBC anchor. It’ll be live in the app this upcoming Wednesday and won’t be recorded for publish anywhere else. Other future hosts include Nora Ali, a former Cheddar News anchor, and Kinsey Grant, co-founder of Thinking is Cool and the former host of the Morning Brew Business Casual podcast.
An example of what a Public Live event badge will look like in the app.Image: Public
In a chat with The Verge, Public co-founder Leif Abraham says the team plans to eventually allow more people to host live audio rooms, but it’s taking its time with the feature and wants to see how things go before opening it up. Crucially, the first iteration also won’t allow people to get onstage live and ask questions. They’ll instead be limited to emoji reactions.
Abraham says the core reasoning behind limiting the release at first is to keep the quality of the content “high” and also to effectively moderate by actually employing the moderators and programming the chats, as opposed to leaving it to app users who haven’t been vetted. (Although the chats won’t be recorded for distribution, he says they will be recorded on the backend for moderation and regulation purposes.)
Interestingly, Public’s moderators come from media backgrounds; two out of three have hosted business TV programs. He says audio made more sense for the app than live video because it doesn’t require as much setup or production costs. Also, listeners can tune in while doing other things on their phones.
The decision to build live audio into another app speaks to the broader push to integrate live audio into existing platforms rather than building it as a separate product. Companies like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter see the feature as a way to augment their platforms, and Clubhouse, famously, is the main app that’s completely dedicated itself to live audio. For Public, Abraham says people are already using the app to chat about trading and stocks, so having conversations about finance just makes sense — despite other apps also often hosting similar chats.
“We are the place where they get their financial news,” he says. “We are the place where they learn about investing strategies, and therefore, we are the button that they think of when they want to dive into the stock market, or business strategy, or investing strategy, and so on.”
Clubhouse and other apps might host chats with randos who claim to understand the stock market and Bitcoin, but Abraham and his team are betting people are more interested in formal live programming that Public can guarantee will be well-moderated and from “trusted” sources.
Microsoft has teamed up with Qualcomm to create a Windows on ARM-based dev kit for developers. The miniature PC will be sold at the Microsoft Store this summer, and is designed to be more affordable to encourage developers to create ARM64 apps for Snapdragon-based PCs.
Until now, developers have had to purchase devices like the Surface Pro X to fully test their ARM64 apps on Windows. That’s a costly exercise for developers, particularly when the Surface Pro X retails from $999 and up. While Microsoft and Qualcomm haven’t put a price on this new dev kit, there are promises it will be more affordable than what developers can buy today.
The Surface Pro X was one of only a few options for devs previously.Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
“This developer kit provides an affordable alternative to other consumer and commercial devices,” says Miguel Nunes, senior director of product management at Qualcomm. “With the smaller desktop configuration, this kit gives developers more flexibility than notebook options, and at a lower price point.”
The announcement of the dev kit comes just as Qualcomm reveals its second-generation Snapdragon 7c ARM-powered processor. It’s designed for entry-level Windows PCs and Chromebooks, with a clock speed bump over the original.
This dev kit will also help developers test Microsoft’s new x64 app emulation for Windows on ARM. This went into testing for Windows in December, and allows users to run 64-bit apps that haven’t been compiled for ARM-based devices yet. The emulation layer will bring a whole host of app compatibility to Windows on ARM once it’s fully available to end users.
Microsoft and Qualcomm are promising to reveal more about this dev kit during Build 2021 today, at a session entitled “What’s new for Windows desktop application developers.”
Smart device and audio specialist Oppo is today launching two new additions – the Enco Air true wireless earbuds and an Oppo 46mm wi-fi smartwatch.
The Chinese brand has expanded its wireless headphone offering to include the Oppo Enco Air earbuds, which promise to combine “lightning-fast Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity with an ergonomic and lightweight design” – a design that’s clearly aimed squarely at the best AirPods alternative market but with a clever translucent-lidded case (so you’ll always know they’re actually in there).
(Image credit: Oppo)
The Oppo Enco Air earbuds come with a Vocal Enhancement mode as standard. Under the bonnet there’s a 12mm dynamic driver with dedicated bass duct in tow, thus promising deep bass and clear highs, plus a dynamic, real-time algorithm to adjust signal – which should allow those voices to stand out from the instrumental.
In terms of stamina, Oppo says the earbuds feature a battery with fast charging that allows up to four hours play from the buds on just a single, 10-minute charge – that is efficient – and 24 hours of total battery life.
Aside from the audio tech, the Enco Air earbuds have also been thoughtfully designed for comfort. The company says that the design (weighing in at only 4g per earpiece) has been user-tested on over 400 different ear shapes to ensure a perfect fit for all customers. This, combined with an IPX4 splash-resistance rating, makes them an interesting budget proposition on paper.
(Image credit: Oppo)
The Oppo 46mm Smart Watch, powered with Wear OS by Google, features a 1.9 inch AMOLED display plus the full suite of Google apps and services – including Google Pay and Google Maps. The AI watch-face design can synchronise to match any outfit thanks to the HeyTap Health app and, with a wide range of wrist strap colours available, it’s never been easier to switch styles. Regarding the frame, Oppo says the 46mm WiFi Watch has been sculpted in a 6,000 series aluminium alloy and is available in a Black finish.
Through Google FitTM1, the wearable enables access to reams of tracked exercises in addition to its key, wrist-based five-minute workouts with voice coaching. With a summer out of lockdown on the horizon, Oppo promises its 46mm WiFi Watch will take the sting out of training and help keep you fit on-the-move. For those out from morning until night, the Watch VOOC Flash Charging allows users to build up 16 hours of power from just one, 15-minute fast charge too.
Ready for prices? The Oppo Enco Air true wireless headphones are available now in a choice of white, black or light blue, for £69 (around $98 or AU$126, although those prices are unconfirmed) and the Oppo 46mm Smart Watch is also available from Oppo’s e-store or Amazon, for £279 (around $395 or AU$510).
MORE:
See our pick of the best cheap wireless earbuds under £100
Slightly stretchier budget? These are the best wireless earbuds 2021
Need noise cancelling? Here’s our summary of the best noise cancelling earbuds 2021
Google has added a way to put a password on your Web and Activity page, which shows all your activity from across Google services, including your searches, YouTube watch history, and Google assistant queries (via Android Police). Without the verification, anyone who picks up a device you’re logged into could see that activity.
To activate the verification, you can go to activity.google.com, and click the Manage My Activity verification link. From there, you can select the Require Extra Verification option, save, and enter your password to confirm that you’re the one trying to make the change.
The page can be very revealing, but also lets you manage a ton of your data in one place.
If you don’t have the verification turned on, visiting activity.google.com will show a stream of your Google activity from across your devices, without asking for a password.
Search history can show a lot about a person.
Turning on verification, however, will require whoever’s trying to see the information to click the Verify button and enter the Google account password before it’ll show any history. For those who share a computer, or who sometimes lets others who aren’t exactly trustworthy use their device, this could be a very useful toggle.
Now no one will know.
While you’re on the Web and App Activity page, you can also take a look at what activity Google is saving, and whether it’s being auto-deleted. Then, you can decide if you’re happy with those settings. If not, this is the page to change them.
At Google’s I/O keynote last week, it talked a lot about privacy with its announcement of Android’s new Private Compute Core, a locked photos folder, and the ability to quickly delete your past 15 minutes of browsing in Chrome.
Are you planning to stick with Google Photos when its free unlimited storage disappears on June 1st? If you’re anything like me, you’re probably still struggling to figure out whether you can afford to procrastinate that decision a little bit longer — and today, Google has made that reckoning a little bit easier.
First off, the company’s finally telling it like it is: Google will no longer pretend its compressed, lower-quality photos and videos are “High quality,” something that would have saved me a lengthy explanation just last week! (After June 1st, existing Google Pixel phone owners still get unlimited “High quality” photos, but if you’re on, say, a Samsung or iPhone instead, it’s not like there was ever a “Normal quality” photo that doesn’t count against the new 15GB limit.)
Soon, “Storage saver” will be the name for Google’s normal-quality photos, formerly known as “High quality.” You’ll be able to upload at either the “Storage saver” or “Original quality” tiers, both of which will count against your storage quota, with “Original quality” using more data.
What if you’ve already got 10GB worth of Gmail and 2GB of documents stored in a Google Drive like yours truly, leaving just 3GB left for photos before you’ll need to pay? First off, know that your existing “High quality” photos before June 1st don’t count against the quota — but also, Google has a new tool to help you find and delete blurry photos and large videos to help you free up even more space.
You can find it in the “Manage storage” section of the app, as you can see in the GIF above. It’ll also help you find and delete screenshots, though that’s been a feature of Google Photos for a while now. Google also promises to notify users who are nearing their quota, and you can click here for a storage estimate if you’re logged into your account.
Still confused, perhaps? I wouldn’t blame you; it took a while for me to get it all straight in my head, particularly considering that Google offers different levels of grandfathered free storage depending on which Pixel phone you own. Here’s an attempt to condense that info for you:
Everyone, including non-Pixel owners: Anything you upload before June 1st, 2021, won’t count against your 15GB quota
Pixel 3A, Pixel 4, Pixel 4A, Pixel 5: You also still get unlimited free “Storage saver,” aka “High quality” images going forward, but not “Original quality”
Pixel 3: You still get unlimited free “Original quality” photos and videos if you upload them before January 1st, 2022, after which you get unlimited “Storage saver” going forward
Pixel 2: You got (past tense) unlimited free “Original quality” photos and videos if you uploaded them before January 16th, 2021, and you get unlimited “Storage saver” going forward
Pixel (2016): You get unlimited free “Original quality” photos and videos until your phone kicks the bucket
Future Google phones won’t have these perks: existing Pixels will be the last to come with free unlimited “High quality” uploads, Google confirmed to The Verge in November.
Apple is releasing its latest iOS 14.6 update today, and it’s largely focused on audio improvements. This new OS update will allow Apple Music subscribers to enable lossless audio or Dolby Atmos once it’s available next month, and it also debuts Apple Podcasts subscriptions.
Podcasts users can now subscribe to content in the app for extra perks like ad-free and bonus content, as well as early access. Apple is also improving the Podcasts app with the ability to mark all episodes as played, recover old episodes, and remove downloads.
iOS 14.6 includes a number of other quality-of-life improvements. If you’re an AirTag owner, iOS 14.6 includes the option to add an email address as a contact method for when the item tracker is in lost mode. There’s also Apple Card Family sharing, with support for up to five people to share an Apple Card for purchases.
As always, this latest version of iOS also includes some fixes and security improvements. Apple has fixed an issue with the Apple Watch not unlocking an iPhone correctly, problems with reminders as blank lines, call blocking extensions not appearing in settings, reduced iPhone performance during startup, and Bluetooth issues during calls.
Lenovo’s Tab P11 Pro is the company’s top-tier Android tablet. With an 11-inch OLED screen, quad speakers, and snap-on keyboard, it’s meant to go head to head with Samsung’s Tab S7 and Apple’s iPad Air. But while the Tab P11 Pro is excellent for watching movies — that OLED screen and the Dolby Atmos speakers are quite nice — it’s considerably less impressive when you attempt to use it for productivity.
Pricing for the Tab P11 Pro is aggressive, particularly when you add up everything you get. The list price for a base model with 128GB of storage and 4GB of RAM is $499.99, but thanks to Lenovo’s frequent discounts, you can buy one for $375 right now. The model I’ve been testing has 6GB of RAM and comes with a detachable keyboard and active stylus pen in the box. That one’s list price is $599.99, but it’s currently discounted to $460 on Lenovo’s site.
Considering the similarly sized iPad Air starts at $599 before you add a pen or keyboard to it, the Lenovo has a lot of value on its side. No matter which model you opt for, you get the same 11-inch 2560 x 1600 OLED screen; Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G processor; quad JBL speakers with Dolby Atmos tuning; 128GB of storage with the ability to expand it with a microSD card; and premium aluminum unibody design.
The screen and speakers are really the stars of the show here. The OLED panel is not as bright as you can get on an iPad, so it isn’t as good in direct sunlight. But in almost every other scenario, including outdoors in the shade, it looks fantastic. Colors are rich, blacks are deep and inky, and the resolution is sharp. It provides a great experience for watching movies or any video, really.
The P11 Pro’s OLED screen looks great, and the quad speakers sound fantastic.
Similarly, the quad speakers are loud, punchy, and immersive. The Tab P11 Pro’s speakers outclass the iPad Air’s dual speakers and easily hang with the excellent sound system on Apple’s higher-end iPad Pro. Unfortunately, Lenovo is taking the same route as Apple and omitting a headphone jack, so you have the option of using a USB-C dongle (not included) or wireless headphones for personal audio.
Combined, the OLED screen and quad speakers provide the best movie-watching experience on a tablet anywhere near this price. To get something better, you’re going to have to pay a lot more money.
But Lenovo isn’t pitching this as just a couch potato tablet — it’s following Apple and Samsung’s lead in presenting the P11 Pro as a tablet that you can also get work done on. And that’s where the P11 Pro falls on its face.
Starting with the keyboard and pen accessories that are included with the top-end bundle, there’s as much to dislike as there is to like. The snap-on keyboard has a nice fabric cover and comes in two pieces: a back cover with a built-in kickstand that attaches via magnets and the keyboard itself that communicates with the tablet through pogo pins on the bottom edge of the P11 Pro. It’s a similar design to what Samsung uses on the Tab S7 line, and I like the flexibility it affords. I can use just the back cover to prop the tablet up for movie watching without having to have the keyboard in the way all the time. It’s great to have this flexibility when you’re using the tablet on a cramped airplane tray table.
Unfortunately, the typing experience on the keyboard itself leaves a bit to be desired. The layout is as cramped as expected with an 11-inch tablet, and there’s no backlighting available. The trackpad is small and has palm rejection issues — even just using the keyboard to write this relatively short draft was an exercise in patience, as my cursor would randomly jump around any time my left hand brushed against the trackpad as I typed. There’s also very little software support; I can’t adjust the scrolling direction on the trackpad as I can do with a laptop or other tablets.
The bundled stylus is nice to have, but it, too, falls behind the competition. It has many levels of pressure sensitivity, and it writes smoothly enough for my basic note-taking needs. But it doesn’t charge on the back or side of the tablet like Apple or Samsung’s pens (you instead need to plug it in via a USB-C port on its end), and there’s nowhere to safely store it on the tablet. Lenovo includes a rubbery holster for the pen that you’re supposed to stick to the back of the P11’s case with adhesive. But the adhesive is weak, and the pen holder falls off very easily. It all just feels like an afterthought.
Similarly, the software support for the pen is weak. Lenovo includes the Squid notes app (the basic free version, not the full version) for jotting down notes, and you can download many other options from the Play Store. But the pen doesn’t integrate into the system like it does on Apple or Samsung tablets. You can’t use the pen to take quick notes from the lock screen or easily capture screenshots and mark them up like you can on the iPad Air or Tab S7.
The P11 Pro’s “productivity mode” leaves a lot to be desired.
When you attach the keyboard to the tablet, Lenovo’s custom productivity mode launches. This is designed to provide a desktop-like interface, similar to Samsung’s DeX feature. But it’s a mess: few apps can be launched full-screen with it, and every app opens in a tiny, windowed box that you have to resize each time. I was able to successfully create a split-screen between a Google Doc and another window, such as Slack or the browser. But in general, the productivity mode feels like a tacked-on afterthought, just like the pen, and really isn’t a great experience.
Elsewhere, the software is standard Android (version 10; there’s no update to Android 11 as of the date of this review, though the P11 Pro does have the latest security patch available), which works best when you’re watching a full-screen video or playing a game, and doesn’t have as many tablet-oriented apps as iPadOS. The Snapdragon 730 processor isn’t as powerful as you get in Apple or Samsung’s tablets, but it’s not really a bottleneck here. You’ll be limited by the lack of tablet-optimized apps way before you hit the performance ceiling of the chip.
In all, the Tab P11 Pro is the tablet to get if you are looking for an excellent movie watching experience and don’t want to spend more than $400. You won’t find a better display or speakers for this price. I’d personally skip the pen and keyboard bundle entirely (even though that does mean you give up the handy back cover and its kickstand) and just use this tablet for what it does best: entertainment.
In an attempt to get more developers to build software for Windows 10 on Arm, Qualcomm is debuting a Snapdragon Developer Kit. The company announced the small desktop PC today ahead of Microsoft’s Build developer conference.
The new system was built “in collaboration with Microsoft” and will run Windows 10. While Qualcomm refers to the system as “cost-effective,” it hasn’t listed a price for the system, which will run on the Snapdragon 7c platform. It will be available for purchase in the Microsoft Store sometime this summer, and is part of an effort to have developers port software to native ARM64.
Qualcomm told members of the press that developers won’t need to return the system, an apparent dig at Apple’s Developer Transition Kits for the M1 processor, which needed to go back to the company.
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(Image credit: Qualcomm)
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(Image credit: Qualcomm)
The Snapdragon developer kit resembles an Intel NUC or Apple’s Mac Mini, in that it’s a small, low-profile desktop. Thus far, every Windows on Arm device has been a laptop, as one of Arm’s benefits is long battery life. Miguel Nunes, senior director of product management at Qualcomm said in a statement that the “developer kit provides an affordable alternative to other consumer and commercial devices. With the smaller desktop configuration, this kit gives developers more flexibility than notebook options, and at a lower price point.”
Qualcomm’s kit has a large power button on top and a sparse selection of ports, including USB Type-A and an SD card slot on the side.
In December, Microsoft started adding x64 emulation to Windows on Arm Insider Builds. But the developer kit is an attempt to kickstart more Arm-native apps. Today, Zoom is announcing an optimized version of its video conference app, which is coming this summer.
There are a number of existing native Arm apps for Windows 10, including VLC, Twitter, Firefox, Edge, Microsoft Office, Netflix, Twitter, Skype and Windows 10. But the number that will be able to be emulated when x64 hits mainstream Windows will increase significantly. Still, native apps will perform even faster.
Without information liek price and full specs, it’s hard to even surmise what kind of effect this will have with the developer community. Qualcomm is teasing that more information will be shared at a Build session entitled “What’s new for Windows desktop application developers.”
Qualcomm also announced its Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 system on a chip today for entry-level Windows PCs and Chromebooks. The company was light on details, but promised laptops using it will start at $349 and offer multi-day battery life depending on use.
Microsoft teased the potential for an Xbox handheld-like experience with the Surface Duo during its unveiling nearly two years ago, and it’s finally appearing today. Microsoft is updating its Xbox Cloud Gaming (xCloud) app for Android, and it includes dual-screen support for the Surface Duo.
The app update allows Surface Duo owners to use a virtual gamepad on one screen of their device and games on the other. It makes the Surface Duo look more like a Nintendo 3DS than a mobile phone, with touch controls for a variety of games.
Microsoft has been steadily adding Xbox Touch Controls to more than 50 games in recent months, including titles like Sea of Thieves, Gears 5, and Minecraft Dungeons. The full list of touch-compatible games is available here, and you can of course just use a regular Bluetooth or Xbox controller to stream games to the Surface Duo.
Microsoft is turning its Surface Duo into a handheld Xbox today. The latest app update for Xbox Cloud Gaming (xCloud) let’s you use one screen for touch controls and the other for the game. It’s like a Nintendo 3DS with Xbox games. Details here: https://t.co/ubbsEAW3r8 pic.twitter.com/aP94t9xgzC
— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) May 24, 2021
The benefits of a dual-screen device for this type of mobile experience are obvious. You no longer have touch controls over the top of the game, and your thumbs don’t get in the way of seeing important action on-screen. If dual-screen or foldable devices ever catch on, this is a far superior way to play Xbox games without a dedicated controller.
Microsoft has also tweaked the rest of the Xbox Cloud Gaming to work better on the Surface Duo. Improvements include making it easier to view content, move through menus, and the addition of columned layouts. The updated app is available now in Google Play Store.
(Pocket-lint) – Lockdowns around the world led to a boom in indoor cycling, with training and virtual racing taking off. For many this has meant buying a smart turbo trainer – such as the excellent Wahoo Kickr or Tacx Neo 2T Smart – and hooking your bike up to it before riding off into the virtual sunset.
However, if you have the space and the money there’s another option: the indoor smart bike. This is where the Wattbike Atom – here the 2020 model, described as the ‘Next Generation’ product by the maker – comes into play. But, at 10 times to price of a ‘dumb’ exercise bike, is it worth the outlay?
Much like mobile phones, there’s a big difference between budget and flagship. The Wattbike Atom 2020 uses top-of-the-range internal components, while it looks like a thing of relative beauty compared to a clunky budget spin bike. But more important than that, it’s designed to integrate seamlessly with third-party apps such as Zwift to allow training, social riding and racing in the virtual world.
So how does the Wattbike Atom ‘Next-Generation’ stack up in the world of dedicated indoor trainers?
Design & Setup
Footprint: 1.24 x 0.5m (4′ x 1’7″) / Weight: 40kg (88lbs)
Connectivity: Bluetooth, ANT+, FTMS
This is the second-generation Atom, arriving 3 years after Wattbike’s first foray into the smart bike home market. Out of the box the Atom is pretty much ready to go, which is not the case for its competitors that require a larger degree of assembly.
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The only things you need to do are attach the pedals – a flat pair are included, but you’ll most likely be installing your own – clip in the aerobars (which double as a tablet holder) and, if you’re so inclined, add the aerobar resting pads. Once you’ve heaved it into position (it’s very heavy, but has two small carriage wheels at the front which are helpful when you need to move it), you’ll need to fit the bike to your geometry.
Anyone who’s had a professional bike fit will be a step ahead of the game here, but Wattbike’s website will take you through what you need to do if you haven’t. The saddle and handlebar height and forward/backward position are fully adjustable, as is the tilt of the saddle, meaning that the vast majority of riders will be able to replicate their road bike position.
However, it’s not possible to adjust the crank length at all, so you’re stuck with 170mm – which for most people won’t be a major issue, but it won’t please everyone (as typical setups are usually 172.5mm or 175mm – both of which you can match on the Tacx Neo Bike Smart, for example).
As we’ve already mentioned, the Wattbike Atom comes complete with aerobars that double as a tablet holder. They’re fairly rudimentary, but they provide a snug fit for your tablet and there’s no worry that it’s going to slide out mid ride.
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Rather frustratingly, there is no USB port at the front of the bike to be able to plug your screen into though, which is an annoying oversight on Wattbike’s part and means you end up trailing an extension socket to the front of the bike when you need a power boost.
On the frame there are two water bottle cages, which is practical given how hot riding indoors can get.
Under the hood
Resistance: electromagnetic
Gears: 22
The mechanics of the Wattbike Atom are where the major upgrades over the previous version have happened. In particular the electromagnetic drivetrain that allows for super-quick gear changes and smoother variations in resistance to simulate climbing/descending or interval training.
Linked to this are the electronic gear shifters that you press to simulate changing gear by changing the resistance to the motor. The gear shifters are battery operated by a coin cell, which of course means you’ll have to change these periodically, but more irritatingly it means they don’t offer any vibrating feedback when you change gear – which we felt would have improved the overall experience.
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Coupled to this, there is no way of telling which gear you’re in when you’re on the bike – except in compatible apps, of which there are few – and an LED display of this would be useful.
All in all, it feels as though there have been some compromises made with the gear system, perhaps as a consequence of trying to achieve the relatively low price point of the Next Generation Atom. Go up the ranks to the priciest-of-the-lot Wahoo Kickr Bike and you get a much more true-to-life (well, Shimano) gear shifter setup.
On the (virtual) road
Maximum power: 2500W
Power accuracy: +/-1%
Our time on the Atom started well. Wattbike provided us an iPad with Zwift, Sufferfest and the Wattbike app all preinstalled and ready to go – and we found our first ride on Zwift, a gentle noodle around Watopia, to be as smooth as we would hope. The Bluetooth setup worked flawlessly.
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The resistance changes as we hit the slopes felt good, gear changes were near instantaneous, and there was a useful gear indicator shown in the top corner of the Zwift screen. Similarly, we found Wattbike’s own app to be seamless, providing a range of interesting and helpful data on pedalling dynamics, as well as a range of interval training workouts.
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The power data was accurate and consistent when we compared it to our Garmin Vector 3 pedals, as was the cadence.
But the Atom isn’t a bike for gently cruising around the great indoors on, it’s a thoroughbred racing machine, so we decided to put it through its paces in a Zwift race. As you might expect, race conditions expose the differences between the Atom and the turbo trainer/bike setup that we’re used to using.
The first thing we noticed was that finding the correct gear was not as intuitive or easy as we would have liked, particularly in situations where you might want to drop a few gears in quick succession. That lack of feedback from the button press gear changers is noticeable.
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There is an option to change from the standard 22 gear set up to 11 gears, but rather than recreating a well mapped out 1×11 set up, the Atom just gives you every other gear from the 22 gear set up. This is disappointing, as is the fact that you can’t customise the gears through Wattbike’s app to create your own ratios – we would like to see Wattbike make customisation an option through firmware update.
The other thing that became more obvious as we pushed the bike hard was that it’s rock-solid stability was, well, rather too rock solid in some ways. The bike was literally rooted to the spot and, try as we might, it didn’t offer even the slightest feedback during all out sprints. On the one hand this is reassuring – we don’t want to be wobbling or worrying about stability during a race – but on the other, many riders want a little side-to-side movement to give a more realistic ride feel, to relieve fatigue, and to avoid a numb rear!
To some extent this is about personal preference, but we found that this rigidity made the Wattbike Atom better suited for jumping on and doing a 30 minute or hour-long interval session, rather than anything longer. A bit like a spin bike session, really.
Furthermore, we found that the Wattbike wasn’t quite as quiet as we had expected. Compared to the whisper quiet high-end turbo trainers we’ve tested, the Atom is definitely a little more noisy, giving a similar level of hum as a washing machine on a mid-speed spin.
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Another niggle that that we found with the Atom – and this must be a huge frustration for Wattbike – is its integration with third-party apps. When we linked the bike up to our own Zwift account on our laptop, rather than using Wattbike’s pre-loaded iPad version, the Bluetooth kept dropping out, meaning we’d repeatedly lose power for 20-30 seconds every few minutes. Then something went very wrong and the bike wouldn’t connect properly to anything on the laptop or the iPad, which was only solved when we reinstalled the Wattbike app on a third device.
When speaking to the people at Wattbike about this they explained that resolving these problems is a priority, but they are also reliant on the app developers to work with them to do this. So it should happen, but it’s a bit of a waiting game.
From then on we stuck to using the iPad, but still some minor issues remained. Using both the Trainer Road and Sufferfest apps, we found that at the beginning of each interval the Atom would “surge” – demanding more watts from us for a couple of seconds, then drop below the target, before it started to stabilise. This same effect happened when riding in Road Grand Tours, with the start of every incline feeling tougher than it should, which, combined with the slightly difficult-to-master gear shifting, could be frustrating.
Verdict
At first glance the idea of paying the price of a mid-level road bike for one that goes nowhere might seem a little indulgent, but the market for this technology is growing, and Wattbike has put out a really solid offering at a price point quite a bit below the competition.
This means there are a few compromises – but nothing that would stop us seriously considering the Atom from a hardware point of view. There are some software integration issues with third-party apps, though, which we’ve found frustrating.
Overall, the smart bike market is continuing to grow and evolve. Some people may think that a smart turbo trainer is still the better option for indoor training at the moment, whereas others will see the benefits of a dedicated training bike like this one.
Wattbike has created a good offering in the Atom and it’s priced a fair bit less than the key competition, which certainly makes it a contender if you want to take this next step in your indoor training.
Also consider
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Tacx Neo Bike Smart
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The Tacx Neo Bike Smart is an obvious rival to the Wattbike Atom. It’s more expensive, and you’ll encounter similar shifting and rigidity issues with it. But third-party software integration is no problem at all, which makes it a more stable offering.
A social media campaign by pro-Palestine activists has pushed down the ranking for Facebook’s app in Apple and Google’s app stores, NBC News reported. The activists are seeking to protest Facebook’s alleged censorship of Palestinian accounts on its platform, and are instructing people to leave Facebook’s app a one-star review.
According to NBC News, Facebook is treating the situation as a high-priority issue internally; one software engineer wrote in a post on an internal Facebook message board that “users are upset with our handling of the situation,” adding that the users “have started protesting by leaving 1-star reviews.” Facebook has reached out to have the reviews removed, but so far, Apple has declined the request to remove the reviews. It’s not clear how or if Google responded to the request.
The rating for Facebook’s iOS app on the App Store as of Sunday afternoon was 2.3 stars out of 5, with 1-star ratings far outpacing others. In the Google Play store the situation was similar; the Android Facebook app had a slightly higher 2.4 rating, with the majority of the reviews 1-star.
Apple and Google did not immediately reply to requests for comment Sunday.
Facebook did not reply to a request for comment from The Verge, but a spokesperson said in a statement to NBC that the company does not censor it users, but applies its policies equally “regardless of who is posting or their personal beliefs.” The spokesperson added that the company has a dedicated team that includes Arabic and Hebrew speakers who are “closely monitoring the situation on the ground, who are focused on making sure we’re removing harmful content, while addressing any enforcement errors as quickly as possible.”
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