Author: Alvin Wanjala

In a quest to better its offering, Google has provided yet another update to Meet. The latest update in Meet betters the platform by adding the ability to filter out background noises. Background noise like keyboard typing, doors opening and closing, and construction outside your window will now be automatically filtered out. The feature, known as Noise cancellation, uses Cloud-based AI to intelligently remove obstruction noises while allowing your voice through. A caveat to this feature is that it only filters out noises that don’t sound like voices. Thus, voices from TV or people talking at the same time won’t…

G-Suite, Google’s product aimed at enterprise customers has announced that it will shut down old apps. The shutdown will touch both mobile and desktop G-Suite apps. In a blog post, Google cited changes to its API as well as service infrastructure. These changes were meant to improve performance and security. “As a result of these changes, some older versions of G Suite desktop and mobile apps may stop working on August 12, 2020. In particular, versions released prior to December 2018 may be impacted,” the company said. The company advises G-Suite admins to notify their users to update these apps…

The first half of 2020 has just ended and analytics firm, Sensor Tower has released its Store Intelligence report. The report reveals the most downloaded apps and games, those that made more cash among other details in the first half of the year. As most people were abiding with the shelter in place rules, the grossing apps of H1 paints a picture of that. One of the most popular apps was TikTok which was ranked as the top non-game app by downloads. The short-video sharing platform led across Google Play Store and Apple’s Store raking in 626 million installs in…

Music streaming giant Spotify has today introduced its much anticipated real-time lyrics feature. The feature is now available in 26 countries across Southeast Asia, India, and Latin America. Lyrics on the platform are provided by lyrics provider Musixmatch. The two started to work on a real-time lyrics feature last year. In available markets users can access song lyrics by tapping on “Lyrics” at the bottom of the “Now Playing” screen. The availability of real-time lyrics on Spotify marks the end of years of failed attempts from the platform to have such a feature. Spotify started working with MusixMatch in 2015…

As the world entered a lockdown, many were stuck at home. Most didn’t have any other thing to do apart from playing video games and binge-watching. Upon the streaming boom, being able to watch movies and TV Shows together with your friends over the internet has become a much-needed feature. As a result, it’s no surprise that Amazon Prime Video has launched a Watch party feature a month after Hulu floated the idea. Watch Party on Prime Video allows up to 100 streamers at max which is massive. Here’s how it works: A host creates a watch party by choosing…

Google Meet is working on a bunch of new features including replaceable background images, live captioning and more

Buckle up, dark mode for Facebook is coming on both Android and iOS

Brace yourselves TikTok, America is coming. Most recently YouTube has finally announced it’s testing a way for creators to record multi-segment 15-second long videos. This is considered a direct target at TikTok’s popularity. But it’s not the only incoming TikTok competitor. Facebook-owned Instagram already has a competing feature in some markets known as Reels. Reels first launched in towards the end of 2019 and is now expanding to two more markets; France and Germany. Users in these countries can now enjoy Instagram’s TikTok clone. Like TikTok, Reels allows users to post 15-seconds long videos – an increasingly sweet spot length…

YouTube is testing a TikTok-like feature inside its mobile apps on Android and iOS.

It’s no secret that smartphone prices have soared immensely in the past and it doesn’t seem to stop. OnePlus which found itself caught up in the price hike race wants to slow down and find their way back to their roots. The company’s CEO Pete Lau in an interview last month said that they want to make more affordable phones. In a recent post in OnePlus forums, Lau is confirming that the interview wasn’t just a chit-chat. They are indeed working on a “more affordable” smartphone series. It’s typical that affordable comes with tons of compromises, but Lau says it…