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how-to-turn-zoom’s-audio-notifications-on-or-off

How to turn Zoom’s audio notifications on or off

When somebody comes to your door — not a virtual door, your real door — and wants to get your attention, they usually ring the doorbell. Zoom has a feature that is sort of, kind of like that: it notifies you with a loud “ding dong” when somebody enters your meeting. This can be useful if you’re waiting for a friend to show up for a Zoom meeting and are playing with your dog or dusting the bookcase in the meantime. It can also be irritating if you’re part of a meeting with ten or more people, and you hear a “ding dong” every time somebody enters or leaves the meeting.

So if you want to turn this notification on — or off — here’s how you do it.

To turn audio notifications off, go to the web-based Settings page.

  • If you’re in the Zoom app, click on your personal icon (usually in the upper right corner). Select “Settings.” Go down to the bottom of the Settings page and click on “View More Settings.” This will open Zoom’s browser-based Settings page.
  • Alternatively, sign into Zoom using your browser rather than the app and click on “Settings” in the left-hand column.
  • Click on “In Meeting (Basic)” in the left column and scroll down until you see “Sound notification when someone joins or leaves.” You can now toggle the feature on or off.

If the feature is toggled on, you will have the option of playing the sound for everyone who joins or leaves your meeting, or hosts and co-hosts only. You can also have Zoom ask to record the voice of someone who joins by phone to use as a notification.

the-twitter-blue-subscription-service-starts-rolling-out-thursday

The Twitter Blue subscription service starts rolling out Thursday

Twitter has officially announced Twitter Blue, a paid subscription service that offers access to new features like undoing tweets and viewing threads in an easier to digest “Reader Mode.” Starting Thursday, it will roll out first in Canada and Australia, where the subscription will cost $3.49 CAD or $4.49 AUD per month, respectively. We already had a good idea of what features to expect from Twitter Blue thanks to sleuthing from app researcher Jane Manchun Wong, but now Twitter has detailed everything the service includes.

A new undo send feature gives you the option of retracting your tweets before they actually go live, and you can set a timer for undoing your tweets that can last up to 30 seconds. A Bookmark Folders feature lets you group saved tweets to make them easier to find later. “Reader Mode” lets you keep up with threads by “turning them into easy-to-read text” and mashing together tweets into one page. Other Twitter Blue features are purely aesthetic: it adds new color theme options as well as the ability to change the color of Twitter’s app icon.

Twitter Blue subscribers will also get access to “dedicated subscription customer support,” the company says. This means that Twitter Blue users will get an expedited timeframe for resolving issues, Twitter tells The Verge. The expedited timeframe applies to any type of support ticket that you might file, which means you’ll get faster support both for account-related problems as well as if you’re reporting someone for harassment. Abuse and harassment continue to be an issue for Twitter, and paid prioritization for support could cause some controversy.

Twitter says it’s launching Twitter Blue first in Australia and Canada “to gain a deeper understanding of what will make your Twitter experience more customized, more expressive, and generally speaking more [fire emoji].” The company didn’t have a timeline to share for when Twitter Blue might expand to other regions.

Offering a paid subscription service is a significant change to Twitter’s business model that the company has been considering for some time. Previously, the company has relied mainly on advertising for its revenue, but intense competition from Facebook and Snapchat’s ad businesses, and pressure from activist investors has pushed it to explore new sources of revenue.

In early May, Twitter began testing a Tip Jar service that lets users send one-off payments to their favorite accounts. A Super Follows feature, announced in February, will eventually let users charge subscriptions for things like bonus tweets, community groups, or newsletters. (Newsletters were made possible after Twitter acquired newsletter service Revue at the beginning of the year.) Twitter has not yet announced when its Super Follows feature will launch.

google-is-making-it-harder-for-android-apps-to-track-you-once-you’ve-opted-out

Google is making it harder for Android apps to track you once you’ve opted out

It’s going to get harder for Android apps to track users who’ve opted out of receiving personalized ads, the Financial Times reports, after Google announced changes to how it’ll handle the unique device identifiers that allow marketers to track them between apps. Starting later this year, Google is cutting off access to these “Advertising IDs” after a user opts out, and will show developers a “string of zeros” in its place.

The news was announced in an email to Play Store developers, and Google has also updated its support page for Advertising IDs with the announcement. Google told developers the changes will “provide users with more control over their data, and help bolster security and privacy,” the Financial Times reports.

The change comes a few short months after Apple overhauled how advertising IDs work on iOS in an apparent attempt to compete with the new policy. Recently, Google also announced that it’s adding privacy info to its Play Store listings, mirroring a similar feature Apple added to its App Store last year, and is also limiting which apps can see what you have installed on your phone.

Users have long been able to opt out of personalized ads on Android (you can do so by heading into the Settings app, going into the Google menu, and selecting “Ads”), but it seems this doesn’t currently stop developers from being able to access your device’s advertising ID entirely. AdExchanger reports that apps have previously been able to use the identifier for non-advertising purposes like analytics and fraud prevention, and Google’s support page says it will announce an “alternate solution” for these use cases next month.

Google’s support page says that the rollout of the new policy will happen in phases. Android 12 devices will start seeing the change in “late 2021,” before it rolls out to all devices with Google Play early next year. XDA Developers reports that Google Play Services will also notify existing apps with access to your advertising ID and related data, so that this can be deleted where appropriate.

Although Google’s announcement follows hot on the heels of Apple’s own ad tracking changes, it’s not yet clear how similar the two approaches will be. Google’s support page still refers to the decision to stop ad tracking as an “opt out” process, while Apple’s changes effectively make tracking an opt-in decision. But regardless of how Google eventually handles the process, it’s another potentially huge shake-up for the digital advertising industry.

microsoft-looks-ready-to-launch-windows-11

Microsoft looks ready to launch Windows 11

Microsoft has been teasing a “next generation” of Windows for months now, but new hints suggest the company isn’t just preparing an update to its existing Windows 10 software, but a new, numbered version of the operating system: Windows 11.

The software giant announced a new Windows event for June 24th yesterday, promising to show “what’s next for Windows.” The event invite included an image of what looks like a new Windows logo, with light shining through the window in only two vertical bars, creating an outline that looks very much like the number 11. Microsoft followed up with an animated version of this image, making it clear the company intentionally ignored the horizontal bars.

Microsoft’s Windows event also starts at 11AM ET, not the usual start time for typical Windows and Surface events. Following the event invite, Microsoft exec Yusuf Mehdi said he hasn’t “been this excited for a new version of Windows since Windows 95!” It’s the first time we’ve heard Microsoft specifically mention a “new version” of Windows is on the way.

The event invite also comes just a week after Nadella teased a “next generation of Windows” announcement. Nadella promised that Microsoft would soon share “one of the most significant updates to Windows of the past decade.” Microsoft’s chief product officer, Panos Panay, also teased a “next generation” of Windows earlier this year.

If Microsoft is truly readying to move beyond Windows 10 and towards Windows 11, we’re expecting to see big visual changes to reflect that. Microsoft has been working on something codenamed Sun Valley, which the company has referred to as a “sweeping visual rejuvenation of Windows.”

Big UI changes are coming to Windows.

A lot of these visual changes will come from the work Microsoft completed on Windows 10X, a lightweight version of Windows intended to rival Chrome OS, before it was scrapped. That includes a new Start menu, new system icons, File Explorer improvements, and the end of Windows 95-era icons that drag Windows users back to the past in dialog boxes. Rounded corners and updates to the built-in Windows apps are also planned.

Significant changes are also on the way for Windows beyond the user interface. Microsoft appears to be ready to address a lot of lingering problems, with fixes planned for a rearranging apps issue on multiple monitors, an upcoming Xbox Auto HDR feature, and improvements to Bluetooth audio support.

Perhaps the biggest lingering issue waiting to be fixed is the Windows store. Microsoft has been working on a new app store for Windows in recent months, and rumors suggest it will be a significant departure from what exists today. Nadella has promised to “unlock greater economic opportunity for developers and creators” with Windows, and the Windows store seems like the obvious way to do that.

Microsoft is reportedly overhauling its Windows app store to allow developers to submit any Windows application, including browsers like Chrome or Firefox. This would significantly improve the store alone, but Microsoft might also be considering allowing third-party commerce platforms in apps. That would mean Microsoft wouldn’t take a cut from developers who use their own in-app purchase systems.

Some of the changes Microsoft planned for Windows 10X are now coming to Windows.

So far, Microsoft has only announced a cut to 12 percent commission for PC games in the Windows store, but allowing developers to bypass Microsoft’s cut would be a significant change.

Moving to Windows 11 branding would also back up Microsoft’s reinvestment in Windows. The software maker signaled a renewed interest in Windows last year, during a pandemic that has demonstrated how important the operating system is. Windows usage jumped as workers and students across the world turned to laptops and PCs to work from home. PC shipments have also surged over the past year.

After slicing Windows into two parts back in 2018, Microsoft moved parts of Windows development back under Panos Panay’s control last year. The move was a clear admission that Microsoft’s Windows split didn’t work, after months of messy development experiences for Windows 10, delayed Windows updates, a lack of major new features, and lots of Windows update issues.

Moving to Windows 11 would still be a surprise move for Microsoft, though. The company previously referred to Windows 10 as “the last version of Windows” in its big push to position the OS as a service that’s continually updated. While there are monthly updates to Windows, the more significant changes are typically delivered twice a year.

A new version of Windows always helps boost PC sales.
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Microsoft has struggled with naming these updates, though. We’ve seen the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, Fall Creators Update, and simple dates like the November 2019 Update. Microsoft has also adopted yet another naming scheme recently, referring to updates as 20H1 or 21H1 to signify both the release year and part of the year the update launched.

A move to Windows 11 wouldn’t necessarily clear up Microsoft’s update naming issues, but if the company also adopted point releases like Windows 11.1, that would certainly help both consumers and IT admins to quickly understand which version is the latest.

OEMs would also be happy to see a Windows 11 release. A new version of Windows always drives new hardware sales and renewed interest in the operating system. If Microsoft backs that up with a new UI and a fresh look and feel for Windows, it will be the typical playbook we’ve seen for Windows for decades.

It’s not long until we find out whether Microsoft is ready to dial the version number of Windows up to 11. The Windows elevent (as I’m now calling it) will start at 11AM ET on June 24th, and The Verge will be covering all the news live as it happens.

spotify-‘only-you’-and-‘blend’-features-now-live

Spotify ‘Only You’ and ‘Blend’ features now live

(Image credit: Spotify)

Building on the success of its yearly ‘Wrapped’ feature, which gives subscribers a visualisation of their listening data, Spotify has launched ‘Only You’  – an in-app experience with listening statistics and personalised playlists.

‘Only You’ includes information such as ‘Your artist pairs’, highlighting a user’s diverse tastes; ‘Your Song Year’, showing favoured musical time periods and ‘Your Time of Day,’ which hones in on the artists are preferred at particular times of the day.

As well as individual stats, ‘Only You’ has some quirkier personalisation features including ‘Your dream dinner party,’  which prompts users to pick three artists they’d invite to a dinner party with Spotify then creating a mix for each artist. There’s also ‘Your Audio Birth Chart,’ showing users their ‘Sun artist’ (the person they listened to the most over the past six months), their ‘Moon artist’ (the artist that shows off their emotional side), and their ‘Rising artist’ (a recent discovery). Once created, both the ‘Audio Birth Chart’ and ‘Dream Dinner Party’ playlists will update daily.

While this kind of individual curation is the type of thing that we already expect from Spotify, by letting users share their statistics the streaming service could help bolster waning subscription numbers as the rate of new sign-ups slows with the end of the lockdown entertainment boom. According to Bloomberg, during the 2020 ‘Wrapped’ season Spotify’s stock rose by 16 per cent, so it stands to reason the company would hope to replicate some of that buzz year-round.

To try ‘Only You’, head to Spotify.com/OnlyYou or open the app where the experience will autoplay.

Alongside ‘Only You’, Spotify is also rolling out a feature called ‘Blend’, which lets two people merge their musical tastes into one shared playlist that gets updated daily.

To use ‘Blend’, just select ‘Create Blend’ in the ‘Made For You’ hub and then tap ‘Invite’ to generate an invitation that can be shared with another user with any tier of Spotify subscription. 

‘Blend’ is currently in beta and only available on iOS and Android mobile.

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