Tech Spite

Having music or other audio playing during a video call can be distracting for attendees and embarrassing for users which is why Microsoft added a noise suppression feature to its video conferencing software earlier this year. This feature is now enabled by default for most users and as a result, any background noise is automatically removed during meetings in Microsoft Teams . While you may want music and other background noise to be removed from your speeches and presentations , this isn't always the case which is why Microsoft also created a high-fidelity music mode . When enabled, this mode streams the sound from your laptop or PC including all background sounds in high quality. Enabling high-fidelity mode According to a new post in the Microsoft 365 Roadmap , the software giant has developed a new machine learning -based music detector that can let users know whenever music is detected. Once this feature rolls out in January of 2022, Teams users will see a notificati...

From tabloid stars to Targaryen dragons, here are some of the upcoming shows on our watchlist—and where to stream them. from Wired https://ift.tt/32RuPBe

It’s that time of the year again. As 2021 draws to a close, and 2022 comes hurtling around the corner, we’ve been looking back at this year’s gaming landscape – and what a year it’s been. 2021 saw game developers truly harness the immense power of the PS5 and Xbox Series X /S consoles, with titles that pushed games, both in terms of performance and from a visual perspective, further than we’ve ever seen before. Not to be left out of the party, Nintendo also pushed some boundaries of its own, giving the Nintendo Switch an upgrade with the release of the Switch OLED – though it wasn’t quite the Nintendo Switch Pro we were hoping for.  But there’s no denying the gaming sphere is still feeling the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. PS5 and Xbox Series X/S stock issues remain a barrier to next-gen gaming and numerous delays have pushed blockbusters due to land in 2021 into a 2022 release window.  Despite the circumstances, however, we’ve seen some truly fantastic games releas...

Three new books explore why fledgling companies flounder—and what to do about it. from Wired https://ift.tt/3pGDrU8

New Year's resolutions are often dismissed as being vague, overly-ambitious delusions that are ultimately doomed to failure. But resolutions that involve tech? Well, they're a different story. Whether you're planning to peel yourself off the sofa towards a new fitness goal, or build the ultimate hi-fi setup, our new series (running from Sunday December 26th to Sunday January 2nd) will show you how to fly through the January wastelands using your tech-based hoverboard. Why tie your resolutions to tech? There are a couple of good reasons. Firstly, a popular strategy for building new habits is called 'temptation bundling'. In short, linking something you like (gadgets) to something you're less keen on (your resolution) is generally more sustainable in the long-run. Also, we're big fans of blaming our failures and shortcomings on inanimate objects. But while Apple Watches, Chromebooks and air fryers can all be springboards to better habits (as we'll reve...

As the cryptocurrency market has boomed over the last 10 years, so too have the number of security breaches and cyberattacks trying to take advantage of its growth. According to a new report from invezz , it's estimated $12.1bn in cryptocurrency was stolen between January 2011 and December 2021 with Japan, South Korea, the US, the UK and China being the countries with the most security breaches. When it comes to how such a massive amount of money was stolen, exploiting vulnerabilities in crypto exchange security systems was the most common tactic with $3.18bn lost in security breaches, $1.76bn stolen through Decentralized Finance ( DeFi ) hacks and $7.12bn lost through crypto scams. At the same time, crypto scams increased by 850 percent from 2011 to 2021 and this year saw the highest number of scams with 76 in total. However, the largest increase in the number of scams occurred between 2016 to 2017 (180%) when some of the most serious cyberattacks took place. Biggest crypt...

If you are planning to ring in the New Year tomorrow by ordering food through platforms like Swiggy and Zomato , don't be surprised if you are asked to pay more. For, starting tomorrow, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) changes kick in, and food delivery platforms like Swiggy and Zomato are mandated to collect and pay the GST on behalf of all restaurants. As ever with tax changes in India, there is a bit of confusion in this one too.  Currently, all cooked food orders sold by restaurants (via food aggregators) invites a 5% GST. That is over and above the 18% GST that all foods get levied at the restaurant.  The onus of paying the the 5% GST  was hitherto with the restaurants. Now that responsibility has changed to the food delivery platforms. Amazon Food takes on Swiggy, Zomato in India Indian govt takes street food outlets online through Swiggy What is the real change? Has a new tax been levied? The proposal to direct food delivery platforms to collect and pay 5...

Trend forecasters want to sell you your own uncertainty—and the more uncertain you are, the more lucrative a crystal ball gets. from Wired https://ift.tt/3Jr6Rxj

If you bought something on Black Friday or Cyber Monday , maybe a little Christmas present, you definitely weren't alone in 2021. Millions of people took advantage of the sales bonanza this year, receiving big deals on loads of things in return.  To help make sense of how huge the occasions are, TechRadar Pro commissioned a survey one OnePulse , which asked 500 respondents some questions about the festivities.  Amazon is the winner and it's not even close According to our survey, carried out by OnePulse , of the 500 respondents a whopping 34.6% bought items from Amazon, the largest group, followed by those who did not participate (33.4%), bought from a high street retailer (14.6%), or bought from Wish, Aliexpress, Shein, or elsewhere (17.4%).  In terms of sourcing the deals, respondents were more divided: 29% went straight to the store (on or offline); 22.6% used Google; 11% used promotional emails; 8.4% used WhatsApp; 6.4% used Facebook and/or Twitter; and the rem...

Every few years, an Apple product that's not confirmed by the company, builds momentum in rumor and speculation until it’s impossible to avoid. The iPad had it when it was rumored to be called the iSlate in 2009, while the Apple Watch was thought to be a next-generation iPod nano around 2013. The Apple headset that’s going to introduce VR and AR to its customers is the latest in these rumors of what could be launching next from Apple. Augmented and Virtual Reality has seen huge improvements in recent years, with companies such as Oculus and Valve refining the experience and offering storefronts where you can play a variety of VR games. But Apple has a chance to redesign its ecosystem to adapt to VR and AR in interesting ways that have not been attempted before. A VR iTrooper (Image credit: Future) It’s not clear whether this rumored headset will both feature AR or VR features, or whether there are two headsets that will cater to each instead. But Apple has a way o...

A new report is claiming that the new Samsung Galaxy S22 high-end model - the S22 Ultra - will get a huge 1TB storage option. The news comes from reliable fan site SamMobile , which says it has ‘learned’ that one variant of the Galaxy S22 Ultra will offer the huge storage option. With the launch of Samsung’s new S22 range imminent - likely happening in February - we’re expecting to see more of these leaks in the coming weeks, as Samsung seeks to maintain its lead as the world’s biggest smartphone brand. The lack of a 1TB option has been a surprise omission since the Galaxy S10 Plus in 2019 - while it’s perhaps a storage option that few will take up, when Samsung dropped the microSD slot on the Galaxy S21 range, it was expected that a larger 1TB option would land - but it was nowhere to be seen. Alongside this leak from SamMobile, Twitter user @hypark22 has been showing off a phone that they claim is a dummy version of the Galaxy S22 Ultra.  The Twitter account shows multi...

SK Hynix, South Korean memory semiconductor supplier of DRAM chips and flash memory chips, has completed stage one of its acquisition of Intel’s SSD and NAND businesses. This follows recent official Chinese approval of the deal, which will see Intel being paid over $7 billion. To handle its new SSD business, SK hynix formed a new subsidiary, called Solidigm. It will be spearheaded by Rob Crooke, former Intel SVP and GM for the company’s Non-Volatile Memory Solutions Group, while Lee Seok-hee, president and co-CEO of SK hynix, will take up the position of executive chairman. Solidigm will be headquartered in San Jose, California. Exiting low-profit positions The overall deal is worth $9 billion, but the plan was always to split the work into two stages. The first stage, which has now been completed, includes transferring Intel’s semiconductor fabrication plant, Dalian, located in China, to SK Hynix. It also includes transferring some employees and intellectual property. The seco...

LG has announced an upgrade to its OLED TV technology, which it claims will make its class-leading television technology even better under the name OLED.EX While OLED technology underpins some of the best TVs on the market, it can still be darker than some of its counterparts - but by using a new compound in the production of the OLED itself, LG claims it can improve brightness by 30 percent. This involves using deuterium, a substance that’s similar to hydrogen in atomic structure but uses an additional particle (hence the nickname of ‘ heavy water ’ when talking about deuterium oxide). This compound replaces hydrogen in the creation of OLED TVs, enabling an increase in brightness. LG is also adding in new algorithms to stabilise the OLED pixels used in its TVs, allowing the TV to predict the lighting patterns of millions of pixels and fire them precisely, meaning that the dark and bright areas of the scene will be more pronounced. This extra technology will also enhance LG’s de...

In a year of continued stasis, these games brought us a lot of joy. from Wired https://ift.tt/3EzksPy

Much as I love my running watch (I’ve been lucky enough to try heaps of great running watches, but the Garmin Instinct Solar is still my favorite ), first thing in January I prefer to leave it in a drawer and head out with bare wrists. 3 tips for mindful running Get stress out of your system Before you warm up, take a moment to write down anything that's bothering you so it's not circling around in your head while you run. Leave the headphones at home Running without music or a podcast lets you be more aware of the world around you. Disconnect from Strava Take the pressure off by skipping the competitive networking app. It’s not permanent, and I still don’t go out without a phone just in case of an emergency, but it’s a great time to remind myself that I don’t need tech to enjoy running. When you allow yourself to get into the zone, the simple joy of movement is enough. It can feel unnatural to go out sans wristwear, particularly in January. A new year means n...

The Oppo A16K had launched in the Philippines early in November this year and we had speculated that it would appear in India in the sub-Rs.15,000 category. There is now information floating in that the smartphone would appear on Indian shores in the second week of January.  A report published by 91Mobiles quotes tipster Mukul Sharma claiming that the new handset would appear in the first or second week of January. The company brought the Oppo A16 as the successor to its Oppo A15 launched in October 2020, thus adding more devices to its series of  budget phones  under the A series in India.  The Oppo A16 came packed with the MediaTek Helio G35, a big 5,000mAh battery and a triple rear camera on the back. The company had also launched the  Oppo A15s  announced   back in December with massive 5000mAh battery for Rs 11,490 and followed it up with a 128GB variant while retaining the same 4GB RAM. Best phones under Rs 12,000 in India Buy Oppo A...

The photographer's curse is a gnawing feeling that, no matter how good your current kit is, a crucial missing piece is just around the corner. Yes, your camera is better than almost every photographic tool from the past 150 years, but the cameras of 2022? They're destined to hit 'Peak Photography' and elevate your almost-great Instagram feed to new heights. Even when we know it's a mirage that somehow doesn't dampen the fun of camera future-gazing. And there are good reasons to believe that 2022 will be another great year for camera launches. Aside from the grim realities of chip shortages, we have fully-cooked mirrorless systems from Canon, Sony, Nikon and Panasonic all competing for our attention, not to mention fresh innovation from the likes of Insta360 and Alice Camera. Against all the odds, 2021 was a vintage year for new cameras, even if that hasn't yet been reflected in shipments and sales. That momentum is likely to continue into 2022, with the y...