Telegram forced to crack down on paid posts because Apple wasn't getting a cut

Telegram and its users are done skirting Apple's strict payment guidelines.

The encrypted messaging platform had to crack down on its iOS users who've been creating paid posts through third-party methods because they violate Apple's payment policies.

Until recently, the messaging platform allowed channels to set up paid content through the help of payment bots. Telegram wasn't testing a new feature. The company had simply, and without fanfare, let creators use an independent payment system away from Apple’s clutches. Content creators could set the prices and let their fans support them directly support. Telegram CEO Pavel Durov said in a recent post that creators would receive “close to 100 percent of whatever their subscribers paid…” However, this is all going away once Apple caught wind of the payments and wasn’t happy that it wasn’t receiving its 30 percent tax cut.

Complete control

Durov states that because “Apple has complete control over its ecosystem”, the developer has no choice but to disable paid posts on iOS. Presumably, if it doesn't, Telegram would be removed from the App Store.

Durov goes on to accuse Apple of destroying the dreams of developers and “[crushing] entrepreneurs with a tax that is higher than any government-levied VAT (value-added tax)”. He calls for regulators around the world to take action against “a trillion-dollar monopoly [abusing] its market dominance.”

Telegram states it will continue to work on new tools for creators “to monetize their content – outside of Apple’s restrictive ecosystem.” As an example, it's gotten around App Store fees for Telegram Premium by allowing users to subscribe via the @PremiumBot at a discounted price. We reached out to the developer and asked what will happen on Android. From the looks of it, paid posts will continue appearing on Android devices. This story will be updated if we hear back.

History repeating

If all this sounds really familiar, that’s because something similar has happened before. 

In 2021, video game developer Epic Games sued Apple after the latter pulled Fortnite from its App Store. According to reports, Epic “broke its agreement with Apple” by allowing players to purchase in-game currency through third-party methods and circumventing the 30 percent tax. The judge in the case ultimately ruled in favor of Apple, but court appeals continue to this day.

Since the lawsuit, we’ve started to see other entities speak out against Apple. You have the likes of Spotify calling the tech giant “anti-competitive” because of App Store rules that make buying an audiobook overly complicated. Newfound Twitter wrangler Elon Musk said back in May that 30 percent is “10 times higher than it should be” and South Korea thought so, too. The nation passed a law last year forcing Apple and Google to allow developers to use third-payment systems and not pay the hefty tax. 

The current state of the App Store is a hot topic as it was arguably the envy of the industry at one point, but public sentiment has shifted. Be sure to read our recent opinion piece on why the Apple App Store is hurting the iPhone experience.

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Using Microsoft Teams on mobile should soon be a lot more enjoyable

Getting the most out of Microsoft Teams on your smartphone could soon be a lot easier thanks to an update rolling out now.

First revealed back in September, the video conferencing company has revealed that transcription for 1:1 calls and group calls is now available on the Microsoft Teams app for Android, giving users the chance to review exactly what was said, or if any details were missed.

Users will also be able to start transcription for meetings on Microsoft Teams for iOS and Android, as well as being able to view the meeting transcripts after their calls have finished.

Microsoft Teams Android transcriptions

Both updates are rolling out to Android users of Microsoft Teams now, and will be made generally available to customers everywhere to enjoy.

The company has been working hard as always on producing a continual stream of Microsoft Teams updates aimed at improving usability and productivity for users everywhere.

Recently, this has included adding background effects to the web version of Microsoft Teams, meaning users will no longer have to download the desktop client or mobile app to gain access. This includes the ability to blur the background and add custom wallpapers behind the speaker, which Microsoft says should make calls “more fun and personal.” 

Read more

> Our favorite Microsoft Teams feature is coming to more users

> We've also ranked the best headsets for conference calls

> Microsoft Teams updates are about to become less of a total pain

Users have also gained the ability to open shared meeting content in a new window, beneficial to workers running multiple business monitors, allowing participants to see the call’s attendees and check shared files and chat feeds while also viewing content shared by presenters.

Finally, Microsoft Teams users are now able to activate live translated captions in a range of languages when starting and setting up a call, with the platform allowing them to select live captions in the language of their choice, helping them gain better understanding with other participants, and allowing for more engagement on calls amongst teams or colleagues in different countries. 

• Also check out our list of the best productivity software

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This Google Docs update wants to solve your most embarrassing work problem

Making sure your Google Docs work is as flawless as possible should soon be a lot easier thanks to a new update aimed at solving spelling problems for good.

The office software platform has announced it will be "enhancing spell check" in Google Docs in an attempt to stamp out errors.

Going forward, the word processor will underline in red any words where the spelling is not recognized, even if there is no suggestion for what the correct form should be - hopefully helping you spot suspect words and correct them.

Google Docs spell check

In a blog post outlining the upgrade, the company notes that when users click on such a word, it will now be labeled as an "unknown word". Users will then be prompted to "consider revising" the word, add it to their own personal dictionary, or simply ignore the suggestion. 

"This improvement will highlight more potential spelling errors - helping you write correctly and with confidence," the company notes.

The feature is available now to Google Docs users, but will only apply to English language entries for the time being, but will doubtless be expanded to other tongues soon (as basic spell check is also currently available for Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, and Italian).

Read more

> Google Docs now gives you ultimate control over your text

> This Google Docs update could help you track down that new restaurant or job interview

> Here's our pick of the best productivity tools around

The update is the latest release from Google Workspace as it looks to make offerings such as Docs more useful to customers across the world.

Recently, the company has added a number of new “assistive writing features” to Google Docs, including synonym and sentence structure suggestions. The service will also flag up any “inappropriate” language, as well as instances in which the writer would be better served by using the active rather than passive voice.

Google Docs has also recently made it easier to add emojis to your work by allowing users to search for and insert the symbols directly inline with your text.

Users will now simply need to type in "@" followed by the term, emotion, object or whatever other thing they need to bring up a pop-up menu of emojis.

• We've rounded up the best online collaboration tools around

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Instagram is down and suspending many accounts - here's what we know

It looks like Instagram is down. Millions of users have been trying to scroll through their feed on the app, but rather than being brought with photos or reels, people are discovering that their accounts are locked out.

As of the afternoon of Monday, October 31, Instagram seems incapable of letting many users access their accounts, although others can still log in as normal and scroll through their feeds.

We've fired up this live blog to bring you all the latest developments, while we - and hopefully the Instagram team at Meta - try to figure out what's happening.

Lots of Instagram users reporting accounts being randomly suspended or locked outMany accounts also showing big drops in followers pic.twitter.com/JOyBBPXVgNOctober 31, 2022

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If you've been getting this message, you're not alone, but Instagram looks to be aware of the issue.

We're aware that some of you are having issues accessing your Instagram account. We're looking into it and apologize for the inconvenience. #instagramdownOctober 31, 2022

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Rejoice - looks like Instagram is looking into the issue now. Best thing is to grab a drink, and hopefully once you're back, all of this will have blown over.

(Image credit: Shutterstock / thongyhod / Twitter)

After the news earlier today that Twitter CEO Elon Musk is wanting to charge for the blue tick, and now Instagram is down, could we see a hat trick soon of another social platform having issues?

Snapchat ceases to snap?

Facebook ceases to face?

MySpace ceases to space? Again?

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What ancient advice can teach us about AI

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is everywhere. Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant have become indispensable to millions of users. Tesla Autopilot has the potential to change driving forever. And IBM Watson took a new job providing big data solutions to corporations after its first job was in jeopardy.

Those are just the most prominent examples. Helpful applications of AI are being deployed in a broad spectrum of industries, but AI also has the potential to be misused.

About the author

 Jason Egnal is Chief Marketing Officer at Zenfolio. His background spans a variety of industries, including SaaS, AI, Fintech and Consumer Electronics. 

Zenfolio, the website builder and photo sharing site, recently introduced technology that applies AI to assist photographers in selecting the best photos from the thousands of shots typically taken during a photo session. The advanced image recognition technology is tremendously powerful and can make photographers more efficient than they ever dreamed.

When exploring the best way to roll out AI to the photography community, Zenfolio had some fascinating discussions about corporate responsibility generally, and its obligations specifically.

AI: ancient concept, new reality

The concept of AI was theorized centuries ago by Greek philosophers, with myths about Talos and Pandora creating chaos and destruction. 

Perhaps these cautionary tales about artificial beings influence our thinking today. While the ancient Greeks would no doubt have been amused by the rudimentary nature of philosophical discourse at Zenfolio, the advantage the company had  were discussions based on actual implementations, not merely theoretical pondering (and the team wore more practical clothing, to boot).

Artificial Intelligence contributes to efficiency, accuracy and productivity in ways the early Greeks could not have imagined. It has evolved to be capable of language processing, optical recognition, and human interaction. 

Yet, there are positive and negative aspects to consider surrounding the responsible deployment of AI.

The positive application of AI in photography

The photography industry is generating exponentially more images than ever thanks to digital cameras and the best photo editors. Photographers need to be more efficient and productive in the time-consuming process of finding the best images out of thousands. 

AI can analyze large amounts of data and perform specific functions, getting faster and more accurate as it learns, usually when fine-tuned by a human. 

Since each photographer has a unique style, and relies on their creative eye to characterize their work, it's important to establish a model where AI can assist in a specifically defined task, yet leave ultimate creative control in the hands of the photographer.

The inherent bias of AI in photography 

A major challenge in many types of artificial intelligence is bias. Especially in facial recognition technology.

Some AI models inherit bias from the datasets upon which they’re trained, and may therefore reinforce or exacerbate societal biases. This tends to occur due to the lack of variety in the training set for the models. 

Diverse data can help mitigate problems that lead to biases in the system, but datasets still require filtering to prevent errors. 

Image generated with DALL-E AI using text “Photographer with camera opening mythological Pandora's box” (Image credit: Zenfolio)

Personal information tied to photographs

We have already seen several controversial uses of facial-recognition technology. Earlier this year, a New York-based startup was fined tens of millions of dollars by European authorities for amassing billions of facial images and personal information from Facebook, LinkedIn, and other websites. Then, using it to train facial-recognition software to identify individuals based on face scans. 

The company justifies its actions by stating that its technology is designed to be used by law enforcement agencies in fighting crime. However, there are other companies whose websites allow anyone to upload any photo to identify the subject. 

Facial-recognition technology is undeniably a powerful tool for photographers and their clients to easily group and view photos of a specific person. It’s one of the best features in the Google Photos app, for example. 

However, there is no need for a business to associate Personally Identifiable Information (PII) with the image in order to achieve these results. 

For photo sessions that generate thousands of images, with a set of similar subjects appearing in many of the photos, applying facial-recognition to find a specific person does not require the application to know anything about that person, other than their unique facial features. 

Once all photos of a person are selected by the AI, it can then rate each image based on a set of criteria ranked in importance, e.g. the sharpest image, the happiest faces, whether eyes are open or closed. 

By keeping the initial set of photos stored locally on a photographer’s computer, the technology can be applied in extremely useful ways, without the subject in the photo being at risk of having AI models learn to more accurately identify them from a large group of private images. 

Should the photographer then share a subset of the best photos with their client through the Zenfolio cloud storage services, for instance, the gallery is password-protected, and advanced settings for the photographer to either enable or disable facial-recognition features for each client's gallery.  

Deploying AI with intelligence

Empowering professional photographers with affordable access to advanced AI is a very new initiative. 

And the team behind PhotoRefine.ai have been cautious and thoughtful, and perhaps even philosophical, in deploying the solution. 

Using cutting-edge technology, drawing on almost two decades of experience in securing images and video, and partnered with the best security technology providers. 

There is always a possibility that circumstances will evolve in unexpected ways, but the approach the company has taken is to try to ensure that it does not enable or contribute to negative applications of AI technology.

Perhaps the Ancient Greek philosophers would be surprised that today, their Talos steers a Tesla. Or that the chaos and destruction they feared from Pandora is limited to the music industry. If all companies spend time contemplating the moral and ethical impact of their creations – tunics and sandals optional – perhaps we can prove those ancient concerns unfounded.  

But as the more contemporary philosopher Douglas Adams said: “A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.”

• We’ve rounded up the best photo cloud storage solutions to keep your images secure

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Elon Musk's latest stupid Twitter idea could kill off the platform for good

We're not even a week in from Elon Musk becoming the owner (or 'Chief Twit' as he calls the position) of Twitter, and already his plans for overhauling the verification process sounds like a terrible idea.

According to The Verge, Musk is planning to raise the monthly price of Twitter Blue, which gives you the ability to edit tweets, as well as get custom icons and exclusive features, from $4.99 / £4.99 / AU$5.99 to $19.99 / £19.99 / AU$20.99. By subscribing, Twitter Blue users will also now be verified, which gives them a blue tick next to their username - something that was once limited to verified users, such as notable public figures, politicians and members of the media.

Users who are already verified will have a 90-day window to sign up for this new plan, or they will lose their blue tick.

This could already be a fatal decision for the platform, especially when this could allow trolls with few followers to pay to get verified, making the blue tick system irrelevant.

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Paying for the blue tick is just wrong

The whole verification process is being revamped right nowOctober 30, 2022

See more

Getting verified on Twitter can be a slow, frustrating affair, in which you have to send the company multiple web links as proof that you're a real person and deserving of the blue tick.

Some people have been denied multiple times, and it took two tries for me to get the blue tick. I still don't know why I was denied the first time, but it's fair to say that the process should be looked at.

However, charging $20 a month for this is not the way to go. It's the equivalent of opening the floodgates and diminishes the point of verification - which was to help users know if an account is authentic, or of public interest. At four times the price of what a Twitter Blue subscription currently is, it's going to be a hard sell.

Combined with the fact that Musk has allegedly told Blue's developers that they will be fired if this feature isn't live by November 7, we could be about to see Twitter's dark days begin, and possibly the end of how you can freely use your account on the platform.

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Netflix announces The Witcher season 4, but Henry Cavill won't be back

While we wait patiently for The Witcher season 3, there's some good news and some potentially bad news for fans of the fantasy series: Netflix has renewed the show for a fourth season, but star Henry Cavill won't be returning as Geralt of Rivia.

As per the Netflix announcement, Liam Hemsworth – perhaps best known as Gale Hawthorne in The Hunger Games series – will be stepping into the role. That casting change is just about the only information we have on season 4 at the moment.

"My journey as Geralt of Rivia has been filled with both monsters and adventures, and alas, I will be laying down my medallion and my swords for Season 4," said the departing Cavill in a statement. "In my stead, the fantastic Mr. Liam Hemsworth will be taking up the mantle of the White Wolf."

"As with the greatest of literary characters, I pass the torch with reverence for the time spent embodying Geralt and enthusiasm to see Liam's take on this most fascinating and nuanced of men. Liam, good sir, this character has such a wonderful depth to him, enjoy diving in and seeing what you can find."

"As a Witcher fan I'm over the moon about the opportunity to play Geralt of Rivia," added Hemsworth. "Henry Cavill has been an incredible Geralt, and I'm honored that he's handing me the reins and allowing me to take up the White Wolf’s blades for the next chapter of his adventure."

"Henry, I've been a fan of yours for years and was inspired by what you brought to this beloved character. I may have some big boots to fill, but I'm truly excited to be stepping into The Witcher world."

Wait and see

You can of course find reactions of all kinds to the news on social media, but it's probably best to reserve judgment on the switch until season 4 actually appears – though it's fair to say Cavill has been great in the role and is going to be hard to replace.

In an ideal world the casting would have stayed fixed, but there's no reason why Hemsworth can't also impress as Geralt. We've recently seen deliberate casting changes in HBO's House of the Dragon – another epic fantasy series that's developed a loyal following – showing that they can work if done right.

Then there's Doctor Who of course, which recently said goodbye to Jodie Whittaker as its main star. The difference here is that casting changes are built into the narrative of the show, but again its evidence that they don't have to kill the momentum of a series.

We are going to have to wait a while to see how Hemsworth does though. Presumably filming hasn't yet started on The Witcher season 4, and there's no indication that it will get underway shortly either. We're looking at a 2024 release at the earliest.

Netflix will be hoping the change from Cavill to Hemsworth won't have an impact on the popularity of the show, which is one of its biggest hits. The spin-off The Witcher: Blood Origin is making its debut on Christmas Day and should keep fans going until season 3 drops at some point next year.

What we didn't get from Netflix is any reason for the change. Given Cavill has just revealed that he's returning as Superman in another movie, perhaps he just doesn't have the time for The Witcher any more – or perhaps he just feels like he needs to take some time away from the Continent now.

• The Witcher game series is getting more releases too

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Want to protect yourself? Install Chrome 107 now

Google is rolling out Version 107 of its Chrome browser which adds a variety of under-the-hood additions and makes some important tweaks to better protect you on the internet.

Because of the 14 individual security fixes included in Chrome 107, we strongly recommend that you download the update as soon as it’s available to you. The most important one revolves around a zero-day vulnerability called CVE-2022-3723. It's  a Type Confusion flaw affecting Chrome’s V8 JavaScript engine. As it’s described by cybersecurity company Avertium, the flaw allows bad actors to “trick” the browser into running malware and making users think it’s legitimate data. 

Avertium states that while Chrome V8 engine attacks are uncommon, they are among the most dangerous. And it appears this is the third time Google has patched a Type Confusion bug this year. One occurred back in March and the other in April. 

As for the rest of the security patch, things aren’t as severe. You see fixes for data validation and for browser extensions. But considering there are billions of Chrome users, there are a lot of avenues for bad actors to use. We repeat: update the browser.

New tools

The rest of the update is more focused on future-proofing Chrome. HEVC (High Efficient Video Coding) is now partially supported on the browser. Also known as H.265, HEVC is a codec that more efficiently compresses files to speed up download times. It's more commonly seen on electronic devices. With this update, Chrome joins Safari and Microsoft Edge as the only major web browsers with HEVC support.

Video conferencing tools are also seeing a few changes to make them more user-friendly. Developers of these tools can now include a button allowing people to switch between tabs whenever they’re screen sharing. It’s essentially a type of hotkey to save you from having to dig through a mass of tabs. Chrome 107 will also alert you if you share the same tab that you’re video conferencing from. Doing so causes a “hall of mirrors” effect, according to the patch notes.

Other reports claim additional features are present in the update, but we couldn’t find them. Android Police states Chrome now has the ability to import passwords from an external password manager or other browsers. And apparently, the media picker for Chrome 107 on Android has been updated. We reached out to Google to see if this is true, as well as if there are other hidden features. This story will be updated if we hear back.

Availability

You can download the update by going to "About Google Chrome" in the browser menu to automatically install it. Despite the slew of security fixes in the update, Google still has its work cut out. Recent reports claim that 300 new security vulnerabilities were discovered in Chrome this year alone. It’s possible there could be another high-severity Type Confusion bug in there waiting to be discovered. 

We recommend being proactive in this case. To better protect yourself, check out TechRadar’s best internet security suites for 2022.

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Move over Netflix, Disney Plus will be the home of the best Death Note adaptation

Move over Netflix, it looks like the best Death Note adaptation will appear on Disney Plus instead, thanks to an unlikely assistant: The Simpsons.

The Simpsons is currently in its 34th season, and on October 30 the series’ annual Halloween special Treehouse of Horror will air. Over the years we’ve seen Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie featured in horror-filled parodies of The Shining, Nightmare on Elm Street, Nineteen Eighty-Four, and Jumanji, and now they’ll be entering the world of Death Note.

Death Note is a manga, anime, and terrible Netflix movie about Japanese teen genius Light Yagami. After discovering the Death Note – a book that can bring about the demise of anyone whose name is written in it – Light dubs himself “the God of this new world” and takes it upon himself to execute anyone who he deems evil.

Not everyone believes in the righteousness of Light’s cause, however. Detective L and his task force take it upon themselves to catch Light (who they dub Kira) and end the pain caused by his warped justice.

In The Simpson’s take on Death Note, none other than Lisa Simpson is the one to discover the book – called the Death Tome in the cartoon show.  Based on the short clips of the episode that have already aired, Lisa will use the tome to end the life of anyone who stands in the way of her mission to save planet earth from pollution. 

If borrowing the story’s premise wasn’t enough, The Simpsons goes one further by abandoning its usual style for visuals that look like they could have been ripped straight from the anime. That’s likely because Death Note’s animators, DR Movie, are the ones who penned the episode, and we must say it looks absolutely splendid.

The only disappointment is that Marge Simpson’s iconic tower of blue hair has been shortened to a bun – we’d have loved to have seen her monstrosity of a mane rendered in Death Note’s more realistic style.

(Image credit: The Simpsons)

Despite that, fans of both Death Note and The Simpsons (us included) are very excited to watch the latest installment of Treehouse of Horror. The reaction is particularly noticeable as it's in stark contrast to the response Netflix got when it announced that the Stranger Things creators would be adapting Death Note. While the Duffer brothers have proven success with horror, Netflix’s anime adaptation track record is not the best.

If you want to watch The Simpson's Death Note parody, you'll need to tune into traditional TV, at least for now. It will almost certainly join the other roughly 727 episodes on Disney Plus, eventually, but unfortunately for those of you who only watch shows through one of the best streaming services, it'll take about a year to arrive in the US (based on season 33 only arriving on Disney Plus on October 5). Instead, you'll have to tune into Fox on October 30.

However, if you have access to one of the best VPN services out there (like Express VPN) you're in luck, as Disney Plus in Australia is already showing episodes from The Simpsons' 34th season. It lags a little behind the latest episode on Fox in the US, but in a couple of weeks, you should be able to set your location to Australia and watch The Simpson's Death Note episode in all of its glory.

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Adobe’s controversial color scheme hits creatives hard

Photoshop users are beginning to feel the bite as Adobe’s controversial decision to dump Pantone Color books from its Creative Cloud tools.

Back in December 2021, the creative apps firm revealed its plan to remove Pantone Color Libraries from products. Users will need to buy an additional license, Pantone Connect, to use them in their work - effectively placing the colors behind paywall. 

August saw the start of a phased cull that stripped the included Pantone Color books from InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop. Now, that process appears more or less complete. And designer and video editor Iain Anderson, revealed on Twitter how the move is affecting creative workflows.   

Paywalls and pirates 

“Fun times ahead for #Adobe designers,” the tweet began. “Today, if you open a PSD (even one that's 20 years old) with an obscure PANTONE colour, it will remove the colour and make it black. Pantone want US$21/month for access, and Solid Coated goes behind the paywall in early November.”

The thread saw users suggest preferred alternatives to Photoshop and their favorite digital art and drawing software. Others offered workarounds to enable the color system in the app. Many seemed baffled by the apparent copyrighting of colors (although, technically, it’s the Pantone color name and matching system that’s being licensed here). Most, however, criticized Adobe and Pantone for not reaching an agreement.  

Read more

> Adobe Max 2022 recap: big updates for Photoshop and Lightroom, plus Meta apps

> We’ve been testing out the best free drawing software

> French app developer takes on the mighty Adobe 

Extra costs aside, one of the biggest concerns for designers is continuing to deliver consistency and accuracy. While Adobe’s photo editor and DTP software allows third-party color books, they risk not identically matching the widely used Pantone libraries. As such, fears of rising complaints and assets not meeting branding guidelines loom over the creative industry. 

More worrying, as Anderson’s tweet shows, is that this update is retroactive. Only Creative Cloud All Apps subscribers will continue to be able to use Pantone Color books. 

Adobe hasn’t revealed the reason behind the change. Its website simply notes “Pantone’s licensing with Adobe was adjusted. Due to this change, customers will need to purchase Pantone Connect licenses to access Pantone colors in Adobe Creative Cloud products.”

The company also confirmed that after November 2022, only Pantone + CMYK Coated, Pantone + CMYK Uncoated, and Pantone + Metallic Coated color books will remain available. 

• Avoid Pantone woes with the best alternatives to Adobe InDesign 

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iOS 16.1 bug that randomly drops Wi-Fi has iPhone owners tearing hair out

It appears that iOS 16.1 has a bug which is causing Wi-Fi connections to become very flaky for iPhone and iPad users, at least going by numerous reports online.

As MacRumors flags up, the problem consists of random disconnects of the wireless connection after updating to iOS 16.1, an issue that users across Twitter and Reddit are complaining about, and folks on Apple’s support forum too.

Some affected people say the problem can crop up regularly, such as disconnecting (then reconnecting) every 10 seconds or so (which would, of course, be hugely frustrating).

Typical complaints run something like this: “I’ve upgraded to iOS 16.1, I have trouble with Wi-Fi, my Wi-Fi sign keep[s] disappearing and appears by itself.”

Or this: “Was watching NBA and the stream was fine as it’s hardwired on ATV4K. But my iPad and iPhone lost Wi-Fi access. And I was a few feet from the router. It was weird because ISP had no issues. Rebooted router and all was good.”

And indeed this: “I have this issue and it is super inconsistent. Things like my browser will still work but Zoom/Google Meet/etc. stop working unless I disconnect from Wi-Fi and just do the call on 5G.”

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Analysis: A frustrating bug, but there are potential workarounds

Between the randomness of the disconnects and the way problems are playing out in slightly different manners, this is a weird one.

Also note that some users observe that this flaw was popping up in the iOS 16.1 beta – which wouldn’t be overly surprising, though you’d hope this would flag it to be fixed – or even before with iOS 16.0 in what appear to be rare cases. So, if the gremlin has cropped up before, iOS 16.1 seems to have made things somehow worse.

With any luck this is something Apple is looking into as a priority, but in the meantime, there are some suggested workarounds.

The most commonly theorized cure is to forget the Wi-Fi network, then add it back – some say this works to resolve the problem, but others indicate it didn’t make any difference for them. It’s worth a whirl, though, if you are facing this particular Wi-Fi conundrum.

Another theory we’ve seen is to head to Settings / Privacy & Security / Location Services / System Services, and then switch off the Networking & Wireless toggle.

It’s not clear exactly how big an issue this is, but there seem to be a worrying amount of complaints around this, so hopefully, an Apple investigation into these Wi-Fi woes will proceed swiftly.

Meantime, fingers crossed that one of the mentioned workarounds will hold you over, though much like the disconnections themselves, whether or not they work seems to be rather random.

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8 new movies and TV shows on Netflix, Prime Video, HBO Max and more this weekend (October 28)

Hold the front page! We’ve upped our usual seven streaming recommendations to eight this week, such is the frequency with which Netflix, Prime Video, HBO Max and the rest are dropping new movies and TV shows for viewers to enjoy. 

It’s a prolific few days on Netflix, in particular, with Guillermo Del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities, The Good Nurse, All Quiet on the Western Front, The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself and Wendell & Wild all arriving within days of each other. And that’s before mentioning Tales of the Jedi on Disney Plus and the return of The White Lotus on HBO Max.

Below, then, we’ve collated eight of the biggest new movies and TV shows to watch on streaming services this weekend. 

The White Lotus season 2 (HBO Max) 

HBO’s Hawaii-set drama series, The White Lotus, scooped a year-high 10 trophies at the 2022 Emmy awards, and now the show returns for its much-anticipated second season.

This time around, proceedings move away from the titular resort at the heart of the series’ first season and into a glitzy new hotel in Sicily. The excellent Jennifer Coolidge reprises her role as Tanya McQuoid-Hunt, but season 2’s cast – which includes Aubrey Plaza, F. Murray Abraham, Tom Hollander and Theo James – is otherwise entirely new. 

The first episode of The White Lotus season 2 will be available to stream on HBO Max in the US (and on Sky and Now in the UK) from Sunday. The remaining six installments are due to arrive on a weekly basis through December 11.

Available to stream on HBO Max, Sky and Now from Sunday. 

Guillermo Del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities (Netflix) 

Guillermo del Toro has had a busy few years. Just 10 months after releasing Nightmare Alley – and two months before unveiling his next movie, Pinocchio – the Oscar-winning filmmaker brings his talents to the small screen with Cabinet of Curiosities.

Originally titled 10 After Midnight, this eight-episode horror anthology series tells a variety of twisted fairytale stories, each with their own distinct cast and style. The likes of Andrew Lincoln, Peter Weller, Eric Andre, Rupert Grint and Tim Blake Nelson star, while Jennifer Kent (The Babadook) and Ana Lily Amirpour (A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night) count among the series’ many directors. 

Two new episodes of Cabinet of Curiosities have been dropping each day since Tuesday – bucking the usual Netflix trend of shows arriving in their entirety – but all eight installments are now available to stream. 

Now available to stream on Netflix.

The Good Nurse (Netflix) 

Eddie Redmayne and Jessica Chastain go Oscar-hunting in The Good Nurse – which is not, despite its title, a prequel to The Good Doctor. 

Based on events documented in the book of the same name by Charles Graeber, this new Netflix movie follows the murderous exploits of real-life serial killer Charles Cullen (Redmayne). Chastain plays Cullen's co-worker, Amy Loughren, the nurse who would go on to expose his habitual poisoning of dozens of patients over a period of sixteen years. 

On the broad spectrum of Netflix films, The Good Nurse is a lower-key affair than, say, Don't Look Up – but its shocking story of gross criminal negligence is far more impactful than the big-budget drama of the streamer's starrier blockbusters. 

Now available to stream on Netflix. 

Tales of the Jedi (Disney Plus) 

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it’s that time again: another new Star Wars TV show is here.

Like Star Wars: Visions before it, Tales of the Jedi is an animated anthology series that hops between various characters in the Star Wars universe. But in this Dave Filoni-created show, the visual style – which is similar to that of The Clone Wars – stays the same throughout, and each story focuses on a different notable Jedi. 

Ahsoka (Ashley Eckstein) and Count Dooku (Corey Burton) count among season 1’s Jedi subjects, and all six of the series’ 15-minute episodes are available to stream on Disney Plus now. 

Now available to stream on Disney Plus.

All Quiet on the Western Front (Netflix) 

It’s been a good few years since Dunkirk and 1917 reminded audiences of the horrors of war, and Netflix will be hoping its new movie, All Quiet on the Western Front, carries the same impact as those Oscar-winning productions. 

Based on Erich Maria Remarque’s landmark WWI novel of the same name (which was first adapted into a feature film in 1930), this German-language movie tells the story of a young German soldier (Felix Kammerer) whose naive expectations of fighting for his country are shattered by war’s harrowing reality. 

All Quiet on the Western Front has been hailed by critics as brutal, vivid and poignant – but don’t expect to leave this one feeling particularly joyous.

Now available to stream on Netflix.

The Devil's Hour (Prime Video) 

Jessica Raine (Call the Midwife) and former Doctor Who actor Peter Capaldi lead the cast of Prime Video’s new psychological horror series,The Devil’s Hour.

This six-episode show follows Lucy (Raine), a young woman who wakes up at the same time every night in the middle of the so-called devil's hour. Why? Nobody knows – except, perhaps, for Gideon (Capaldi), a Hannibal Lecter-style serial killer with a lot on his mind. 

Critics have praised The Devil's Hour for being a smart and sinister update on the tried-and-tested police procedural formula, so we’d suggest giving it a try if you’re into your twisty crime dramas. 

Now available to stream on Prime Video.

The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself (Netflix) 

Giri/Haji and Encounter screenwriter Joe Barton returns to the small screen with new Netflix series The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself .

Adapted from Sally Green's Half Bad novel series, this eight-episode series centers on Nathan (Jay Lycurgo), a teenager who just so happens to be the illegitimate son of the world’s most dangerous witch. Reluctant to follow in the footsteps of his murderous father, he tries (but mostly fails) to stay out of trouble. 

The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself may be based on young adult fiction, but its gruesome visuals suggest anything but. Netflix itself has described the show as "a truly ****** up ride", so we reckon it could be perfect pre-Halloween viewing. 

Now available to stream on Netflix. 

Wendell & Wild (Netflix) 

The fourth (fourth!) Netflix recommendation this week is the suitably spooky stop-motion animated adventure Wendell & Wild.

From the minds of Henry Selick (Coraline) and Jordan Peele (Nope), this new Netflix movie follows two scheming demon brothers, Wendell and Wild (Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele), who enlist the help of a teenage girl (Lyric Ross) to summon them to the Land of the Living. Angela Bassett, James Hong and Ving Rhames also star.

Wendell & Wild has been called “a messy but imaginative ride” by critics, and existing Laika movie fans are likely to find plenty of supernatural sorcery to enjoy here. 

Now available to stream on Netflix. 

• Check out all the biggest new movies coming to theaters in 2022

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Microsoft: don't reset your Server Manager disk, you could lose all your data

OLED TVs are in trouble – but that could be good news for cheaper prices

A slump in TV sales has seen LG Display post record losses after the company struggled to offset the effects of slowing consumer demand. LG Display is the part of LG that makes screen panels, and it's the sole supplier of standard OLED panels to other TV manufacturers – nearly all of the best OLED TVs use its displays, except those that use QD-OLED (made by Samsung Electronics).

The South Korean manufacturer published its financial results for Q3 2022 earlier this week, with the report revealing an eye-watering operating loss for the quarter of over $540 million. 

That figure marks a sizeable contrast to the profit of over $370 billion the company recorded a year earlier. 

LG Display pointed to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the worsening energy crisis, soaring inflation and waning demand post-pandemic for the figures. 

The company is also facing mounting pressure from Chinese display manufacturers that are growing an increased market share.  

But it appears at a consumer level where issues with its OLED TV business currently lay, with cash-strapped shoppers opting to hold fire on splashing out on a higher-end TV.

The company is the world’s largest provider of OLED panels while also one of the largest for LCD display manufacture, and has been hit hard by declining prices for both types of panels.  

Crucially, this week’s financial report stressed that demand for premium OLED panels and TVs had dropped to an "unprecedented level", with sales particularly low in Europe. 

The company now says it plans to cut its 2022 investment budget by over $700 million while also flexibly operating its OLED production lines to match demand. 

The report adds that LG now aims to hasten its reduction of LCD capacity in China, and accelerate its shift to OLED technologies overall.

(Image credit: LG)

Analysis: LG’s financials look gloomy – but there should be OLED light at the end of the tunnel

The LG Display balance sheet looks somewhat worrisome after the dramatic losses it announced this week, but that sobering report reflects a few things we already knew. 

Demand for TVs overall is unsurprisingly down right now amid a cost-of-living crisis affecting almost all corners of the world that has left consumers feeling very price-sensitive. 

We also knew that investment in OLED production next year was expected to be minimal, which should allow the company to steady its ship if it's not splashing out tons of extra investment. 

The big potential upside for consumers is that something's going to have to happen to stimulate interest once more in OLED TVs next year, and in a cost of living crisis, that pretty much needs to be a drop in prices for consumers.

LG Display wasn't very forthcoming with cheaper OLED panels in 2022, which meant that the budget OLED TV market was limited to the LG A2 and Philips OLED707. Vizio and Hisense both didn't offer new cheap OLED models in 2022, for example.

That now seems to have been a mistake, leading us to predict that the next year could see deeper discounted OLED TVs from a much broader range of brands. And in the meantime, there's a good chance of seeing some huge Black Friday OLED TV deals, in the hope of giving the tech a boost in people's minds heading into next year.

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Wakanda Forever reactions are in, and it's "very different" to Black Panther

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has finally premiered, and the first fleet of reactions are now swarming over our social media feeds like a vibranium nanite super-suit.

The embargo for a full review of the movie isn’t for another week (November 8), but attendees were able to tweet some initial, spoiler-free impressions that start to give a picture of how the hugely anticipated Black Panther sequel has fared.

Wakanda Forever picks up the story after the end of 2018’s Black Panther, seeing the afro-futurist community of Wakanda in conflict with the undersea nation of Talokan, led by king Namor. We know the film also debuts Dominique Thorne as Riri Williams, also known as Ironheart – an MIT student who creates an Iron Man-esque suit of armor – alongside returning roles for Letitia Wright (Shuri) and Lupita Nyong’o (Nakia).

A sequel was surely a daunting task, given the immense popularity of the first Black Panther film, as well as the glaring absence of former lead Chadwick Boseman – who tragically passed away in 2020. The sequel does appear to pay tribute to Boseman’s legacy, while you can see director Ryan Coogler wearing a commemorative chain to honor the late actor on the red carpet.

So with a truly star-studded cast, musical contributions from Rihanna, and the weight of expectations on this film’s shoulders, how did it fare?

She-Hulk actress Jameela Jamil went all-caps in her praise for Wakanda Forever, calling it “UNBELIEVABLY GOOD [...] ACTION, SCENERY AND COSTUMES TO DIE FOR”.

GO AND SEE BLACK PANTHER IT IS FUCKING UNBELIEVABLY GOOD. PREMIERE WAS A VIBE. LETITIA WRIGHT DESERVES ALL THE GOOD SHIT. WILDLY TALENTED CAST AND CREW. ACTION, SCENERY AND COSTUMES TO DIE FOR. #WakandaForever pic.twitter.com/5CxppAbPrMOctober 27, 2022

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Host of Comicbook.com’s Marvel podcast Phase Zero, Brandon Davis, called the movie “epic, especially in scope” – while adding in a later comment that Wakanda Forever and 2018’s Black Panther are “VERY different movies”, making comparison difficult.

#BlackPanther #WakandaForever is epic, especially in scope.Namor is one of the better villains the MCU has had to offer. Tenoch Huerta just kills it!Emotions are heavy. Ryan Coogler ups his game on the action. It’s a lot to take in, balance so much, and is powerfully good. pic.twitter.com/NYxk1UvTYzOctober 27, 2022

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Film critic Elijah Boxhill points to the impact that Letitia Wright has had on the film – seeing her fill the space left by Boseman’s T’Challa is certain to give the film a different feel.

#WakandaForever is PERFECT! Even with the heart-wrenching weight that it had to carry on its back, Black Panther 2 executes in making one of the most memorable Marvel films ever. Letitia Wright’s impact on this film is still has me still shaken up a bit, (1/3) pic.twitter.com/Agsf041VjGOctober 27, 2022

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Film critic Fico Cangiano calls it “a soulful, wondrous sequel that packs an emotional punch & effectively explores relevant world themes.” Meanwhile, Ghanian singer Amaarae said it's “truly an amazing movie”.

Film critic Orlando Enelcine calls Black Panther the “crown jewel” of the MCU, with the sequel offering “some of the best acting I’ve seen all year.”

Actor Matt Ramos wasn’t quite as complimentary, calling Wakanda Forever “a step down from the first film”, adding that “there’s a lot that just didn’t sit right with me that I can’t explain without getting into spoilers”.

#WakandaForever is a definitely a step down from the first film. It has great qualities in Letitia’s performance, NAMOR & the action but there’s a lot that just didn’t sit right with me that I can’t explain without getting into spoilers. I’ll explain more once the film comes out.October 27, 2022

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There’s definitely a tendency with social media impressions to be fleeting praise – it’s hard to justify criticism of a film when you can’t immediately back your argument up with further descriptions, and the purpose of companies allowing these tweets is largely to help stoke up online chatter around a film.

So, we expect a fuller picture to emerge when the film opens to the public, and reviewers can thoroughly have their say  – but if there’s any common thread in these reactions so far, it’s that Wakanda Forever feels like quite a different beast from the original, and we'll see whether fans of Black Panther feel split on the result.

Certainly, the focus on the emotion and soulfulness means it might address some of James Cameron's (fair) criticism of Marvel's movies.

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Windows 11’s best new feature will only be for Samsung phone owners

Windows 11 has got a nifty new feature that allows for much more conveniently hooking up your PC to a mobile phone with the latter acting as a Wi-Fi hotspot, although the functionality is just in testing for now, and only works with Samsung smartphones.

The ability to instantly access your phone’s hotspot is facilitated by the Phone Link app (formerly Your Phone), and it’s introduced in preview build 25231 in the Dev Channel (early testing channel for Windows Insiders).

Instant hotspot means you can very swiftly connect to your handset’s hotspot just by clicking a button – assuming the device is in range – without having to touch your phone or mess around with any hotspot settings, typing in passwords and so forth.

(Image credit: Microsoft)

As mentioned, you need a Samsung device – running One UI 4.1.1+ to be precise – and your PC must support Bluetooth. You also need to be running the new preview build 25231 of Windows 11, of course, and have the Phone Link desktop app version v1.22082.111.0 (or better).

For more details on how to set it all up, see Microsoft’s blog post on the new build which further lists the other tweaks the software giant has made here, which are mainly bug fixes (and known issues).

---

Analysis: Please, Microsoft, bring this to other phones besides Samsung

This is a really smart and convenient touch for Phone Link to cut down on the hassle related to using your phone as a hotspot for your Windows 11 machine.

Common scenarios for when you might avail yourself of the instant hotspot are, for example, when you’re out and about, and want to use your Windows 11 laptop with your smartphone’s cellular connection. Or, maybe you’re at home and the broadband goes down – you might then want to hop on your mobile broadband instead via your phone, and can do so instantly with no fuss using this feature (until your full-fat broadband comes back on).

The obvious annoyance here is that it’s a Samsung-only feature, but for Phone Link users, that particular stumbling block is nothing new, as functionality has been tied to Samsung devices exclusively in the past a number of times.

When will instant hotspot come to other phones? We don’t know. Indeed, this is the early testing channel as observed above, so there’s a chance the feature may be ditched before making the cut for the release version of Windows 11. In this case, that seems unlikely, but who knows.

At any rate, fingers crossed for wider support than just Samsung devices with this one. It certainly seems a bit daft that you can’t benefit from this ability on Microsoft’s own Android-powered Surface Duo 2, but hopefully that’ll change soon enough.

Via Neowin

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Microsoft Teams is officially more popular than email for most businesses

Microsoft Teams has retained its position as the most popular online collaboration tool in enterprise, even after the height of its popularity seen during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The claim was made by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, speaking on an earnings call for the company's Q1 2023 financial year results.

Nadella claimed users interact with Microsoft Teams 1,500 times a month on average, and spend more time in Teams chats than they do in email clients, meaning that the service is not only retaining pandemic-era users, but also seeing increased engagement from them.

Pandemic-era collaboration

While many of Nadella’s comments were for company shareholders, he also revealed some new information about Teams’ admittedly tight grip on the collaboration software space.

The Microsoft chief noted the number of users who were using “four or more” features within Teams had increased over 20% year on year. 

This is vague, but does suggest that users may be becoming more familiar with Teams, and perhaps other video conferencing software and collaboration solutions as the pandemic progresses.

Supporting this notion is Nadella’s revelation on the call that the number of monthly active enterprise users using third party and custom applications within Teams has increased by almost 60% year on year.

That increased reliance on external applications also suggests that remote collaboration is becoming embedded into the way people approach work, regardless of the platform they choose. Companies are clearly making investments into the collaboration space with a long-term plan in mind.

This, too, has worked out well for Microsoft. Nadella claimed that “over 55%” of its enterprise customers also buy into its Teams Rooms or Teams Phone services. Cisco is the highest profile company to announce that their devices and peripherals will run Teams natively, and, in the wake of the news, other large corporations may be encouraged to follow suit

Most small to mid-sized businesses, however, will likely settle for the new Teams Premium service, which Nadella claims will, “address enterprise demands for advanced meeting features”. This is sure to boost enterprise engagement, as well as spending, even more when it comes to Teams products.

READ MORE

> Check out our list of the best productivity tools right now

> Microsoft Teams pricing changes will be a gift for some, but not for others

> Using Microsoft Teams GIFs really is an awful idea

It’s perhaps not surprising that email is losing out to collaboration tools like Google Workspace and Slack, which can feel immediate and synchronous and, for many, attaching files into chats is more intuitive than doing so in an email.

However, emails remain in prolific use for enterprises, especially when collaborating with external organisations. With convenient and intuitive solutions for cross-business collaboration being thin on the ground, any innovation in this area from Microsoft, or anyone, could move to kill off email for good.

•  Here’s our list of the best email providers right now

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This Microsoft Outlook for Web update could stop embarrassing email fails for good

Making sure your emails reach the right person should soon be a lot easier thanks to a new Microsoft Outlook update.

The email client has announced it will be launching its contact de-duplication feature in the Outlook Web App (OWA), hopefully cutting down on confusion and making sure your messages end up at the right place.

The company hopes that this will mean an end to contact duplication in your OWA address book, without users having to take any immediate action themselves.

Outlook Web app contacts

"People are at the center of our lives, and we start every digital connection via contacts," the entry on the Microsoft 365 roadmap for the update read. "Hence, a clean, up-to-date contact list is critical for better collaboration and productivity."

As it is designed for the OWA, the update will be coming to web users of Outlook and Office 365 first, but may roll out to other users soon. The update is still listed as being "in development", but has a general availability date of September 2022, meaning it should release to users across the globe soon.

Read more

> Don't panic, but Outlook for Web is moving a whole lot of stuff around

> Our list of the best productivity software on the market right now

> Outlook update solves a problem that should never have existed

The update is the latest in a series of releases from Microsoft Outlook as it looks to stay useful and relevant for users everywhere.

This includes a recent upgrade that will help ensure sensitive information is kept within the appropriate circles, as Outlook will now automatically match the sensitivity of the email with the label applied to attachments.

Microsoft Outlook is also planning to make it easier to find meeting-critical documents, such as recordings, transcriptions, and minutes, from within the email client itself, without the need to cross over to other applications.

More changes will also be available for users when the next generation of Microsoft Outlook sees a general release soon. Currently still only open for Office Insiders to try, the upgraded edition offers a number of improvements and tools, including the ability to support all kinds of Microsoft email accounts, and a new Quick Steps feature for speedy problem-solving.

• Out list of the best email providers around

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Zoom and Google Meet are coming closer together at last

In its quest to make Google Meet the best video conferencing platform available, the company is now set to work with its great rival Zoom - not against it. 

Google has continued to invest heavily and added new features since the hybrid working boom that came around due to the pandemic, however it has a rather large problem in that there are so many alternative platforms that not every customer, client, or even colleague, will use the same solution. 

While many companies prefer to use the Google Workspace environment, which includes Meet, plenty of others have continued to invest in Zoom as a primary communications platform.

Google Meet and Zoom

To boost potential new customer options, Google has now confirmed bi-directional interoperability between Meet and Zoom.

Coming later in 2022, the news means users will be able to join calls from an opposing platform from a calendar invite or by entering a meeting code. 

There is one small caveat, though, as while Zoom users will be able to join Google Meet calls “across all platforms”, only certain Google Meet users will be able to join Zoom calls. Specifically, those running ChromeOS-based Meet devices.

Read more

> We've rounded up the best business webcams

> Google Meet is putting you front and center in your next video call

> Google Meet may have just fixed a majorly embarrassing meeting problem

The company promises to add support for other devices over time, but for now at least, this will likely leave many users uncatered for, despite following a similar partnership with Cisco's Webex platform over a year ago.

Elsewhere, the company has fine-tuned its collaboration with Logitech and Poly, both of whom will now offer Meet for Android-based appliances. The Poly Studio X family and Android-based appliance versions of Logitech’s Rally Bar and Rally Bar Mini are both set to launch in 2023.

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Guardians of the Galaxy’s Disney Plus special joins the Xmas kidnap movie tradition

Jingle bells are coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with a Guardians of the Galaxy holiday special set to land on Disney Plus later this year. While the news was announced earlier this year, we’ve only now got a trailer to help set expectations for the light-hearted feature, and it’s a doozy.

Marvel is clearly leaning into the sillier aspects of its intergalactic crew, with a Christmas-themed special that sees Drax and Mantis teaming up to visit Earth and kidnap an Earth celebrity as a surprise gift for Starlord.

The celebrity is, of course, Kevin Bacon. 

Bacon is a wonderful choice, as the star of that classic ’80s movie Footloose – which Pratt’s character cites in the first Guardians of the Galaxy film – and a much beloved part of the Hollywood landscape.

It seems like a fun fling with the Guardians, and exactly the kind of nonsense we need between denser MCU affairs, such as the incoming Quantumania, which got its own, rather more menacing trailer on the same day. Marvel seems keen to release shorter ‘presentations’ like this in the future, without the lengthy episode count of a dedicated TV series or the distribution headache of a theatrical release. Supposedly, the Silver Surfer will receive something similar.

It’s also lovely to see more time dedicated to Drax and Mantis, two supporting characters in the main films that usually play second fiddle to Peter Quill, but have a hilarious dynamic between them – one an incredibly literal warrior with poor social skills, the other a superpowered empath who’s nonetheless very naive. More of them, please!

But more importantly, this Guardians of the Galaxy special is just the latest in a long line of Christmas kidnappings in the movies – a surprisingly common trope that appears in festive films going decades back.

Who can forget Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, a Halloween-Christmas genre mashup that sees a talking skeleton kidnap Santa Claus himself? Or Will Ferrel comedy Elf, in which a baby is accidentally stolen from its home and accepted to live as a Christmas elf at the North Pole until they grow up?

Horror movies like 2015’s Krampus – rooted in Alpine folklore of a horned, devilish figure who punishes misbehaving children – see malicious gingerbread men and elves abduct family members from their home. Holiday in Handcuffs, meanwhile, is a 2007 comedy in which a waitress kidnaps a customer to bring them home for Christmas to meet her parents. And Die Hard uses the festive season for something more akin to hostage situations, where people are held inside against their will, so we're still counting it as a kidnap movie.

But why is this narrative seen again and again? As a festival of giving, flipping Christmas into a time of theft, of kidnapping, of taking, effectively turns the premise on its head, reversing our expectations of the holiday. And it’s heartwarming to see Marvel continue that proud tradition.

At the very least, Kevin Bacon should be a truly entertaining addition to the MCU. If Marvel decides to get him in more of their movies, we’re absolutely fine with that.

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iOS 16.2 and iPadOS 16.2 betas show off new collaborative features and useful bug fixes

Apple wasted no time, releasing the first beta of iOS 16.2 and iPadOS 16.2 to developers, just days after the public launches of iOS 16.1 and iPadOS 16.1.

Looking at the official release notes, we see the beta will finally allow people to get their hands on the Freeform app for iPad, which was first revealed in June 2022 during Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). It's a digital canvas that lets users collaborate on projects alongside other people. Stage Manager is seeing the return of external display support but for M1 and M2 iPads only, as Apple continues to figure out what to do with the desktop management app.

What’s coming to iOS 16.2 is technically still unknown, but people across the internet have been spilling the beans. One addition is a new accidental report notice for the Emergency SOS feature discovered by a Twitter user, which may be useful when someone accidentally activates the emergency support tool. If you trigger Emergency SOS, your iPhone will ask if you did this intentionally. It appears Apple is trying to collect some data on the tool for a potential update.

iPadOS 16.2 changes

When it comes to the Freeform app, it’s unknown just how fully fleshed out the app is, but looking at online reports, it looks pretty close to being finished. All of the features shown off at the initial June announcement appear to be present, including the ability to add sticky notes for planning, support for the Apple Pencil, and the various drawing tools. But it's not ready for release, as there are still some glitches to iron out.

Apple mentions it discovered that Freeform boards can’t be deleted if the device is offline and sometimes iCloud data is randomly disabled for the app. It’s working on a fix for this, but in the meantime, the company recommends as a temporary workaround going into the iPad’s settings and adding an iCloud permission for Freeform. 

Stage Manager can now show up to eight different apps on an external screen thanks to the display support mentioned earlier. The feature has had a rough time since its launch on iPadOS 16, being bogged down by bugs and a rather confusing user interface. While problems are being addressed, Apple had added another one to the list. The release notes mention an issue in Stage Manager where "dragging a second window to the workspace" will hide the Recent Apps list, throwing everything to the far right of the screen.

Coming to iOS 16

iOS 16.2 will see the "architecture" of the Home app restructured to offer better performance for smart home devices, according to reports.

Devices with ProMotion screens (like the iPhone 14 line) will have its SwiftUI tweaked to support a 120Hz refresh rate on its “animated layout changes”. And tucked away in the code, 9to5Mac discovered a new version of Live Activities that “will provide more frequent updates,” but it’s inactive at the moment.

We reached out to Apple to ask about the beta, namely the Home app, and asked if the performance boost for the Home app is in any way related to the Matter standard which launched back in early October. We also asked when will 16.2 be made available to the public. Right now, the beta is a part of the Apple Developer program which you have to enroll in if you want access. This story will be updated if we hear back.

If you’re interested in learning more about Apple’s latest offering, be sure to check out our guide on the five features worth checking out on iPadOS 16.1. 

https://www.techradar.com/news/ios-162-and-ipados-162-betas-show-off-new-collaborative-features-and-useful-bug-fixes/

This iOS 16.1 update makes the Dynamic Island even more useful

Apple's new iPhone 14 Pro Dynamic Island is now just a little more dynamic. iOS 16.1, which officially dropped on millions of iPhones this week, brought with it new gesture controls to Apple's innovative notch replacement.

Available only on the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max, the Dynamic Island not only moved the True Depth Module down from the iPhone's top edge, but it also created a fungible island of functionality. From a technical perspective, the Dynamic Island is actually two Super Retina Display XDR screen cutouts, one pill-shaped and the other wider and more cylindrical. Apple cannily uses the small bits of pixels between the two shapes to create what appears to be a lively and fully dynamic digital island.

Inside the Dynamic island are activity symbols to indicate if, for instance, your phone is locked, playing music, or delivering Map-based directions. It can appear to expand to offer more map details or conduct a Face ID scan. In other words, the Island, which also supports third-party apps, is designed to be many things to many people.

(Image credit: Future)

In iOS 16.1 it gets another trick. The Dynamic Island is already capable of displaying two running apps at once, but they generally sit as two distinct islands with home screen pixels separating them. Now, with a gesture, you can easily hide one activity. Apple confirmed that this feature, which first appeared in iOS 16.1 beta is now part of the public download.

For example, we launched Apple Music and started playing a song, then switched to Maps and set the navigation for home. On the home screen, the Dynamic Island displayed these activities in two separate, for lack of a better word, islands. If we place a finger on, for instance, the smaller music island and swipe to the left the music island is hidden, and we have just one original-sized Dynamic Island running our Map directions.

Another quick left swipe on the far left side of the Dynamic Island unhides the music app, which ends up back on its own tiny island on the right.

Granted, it's a small change, but also an indication that Apple views the Dynamic Island, which already responds to taps, as a platform on which it can build a world of interaction.

We like the control and look forward to more.

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There's a really enticing new reason to switch your business to Google Workspace now

Start-up and side hustle owners will soon be able to get even more from their Google Workspace subscription thanks to a major expansion to the platform.

The company has revealed that subscribers to its office software suite will now get 1TB of secure cloud storage included in their account - a significant increase from the previous 15GB.

Google Workspace Individual users will also be able to benefit from smarter emails, with the platform now offering mail merge tags such as @firstname, allowing for personalization options even when sending out multisend bulk emails.

Google Workspace Individual storage

"Since launching Google Workspace Individual last year, we’ve seen customers from around the world grow their businesses, connect with their customers in more meaningful ways, collaborate with partners, get organized and look more professional," the company wrote in a blog post. "Business owners have told us the familiarity of our tools helps them get more done."

The platform is also being launched across 12 new countries, the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, the Netherlands, Portugal, Belgium, Finland, Greece and Argentina - bringing the total number of locations available for Google Workspace Individual up to 24.

Read more

> Google Workspace is getting a major upgrade to rival Microsoft 365

> There's an all-new free version of Google Workspace for work

> Here are the best online collaboration tools around today

First launched in July 2021, Google Workspace Individual looks to provide small business and start-up owners with all the software tools they need to prosper and grow, including access to the company's full office software experience including Gmail, Chat, Calendar, Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Meet. 

The platform includes "premium" calls through the Google Meet video conferencing service, with users able to benefit from longer group calls (up to 24 hours), call recording, breakout rooms, polls and more. 

It also offers shareable booking pages integrated directly with Google Calendar, letting anyone schedule an appointment with you quickly and easily. 

An expansion to the service was announced in August 2022, adding live streaming from Google Meet to YouTube to help reach a bigger audience, professional layouts and multi-send for email newsletters, immersive Google Meet backgrounds and improved sound and lighting, and better integration with Docs, Sheets, and Slides to "bring meetings directly into the flow of work".

Customers can sign up to Google Workspace Individual now and enjoy a 14-day trial. The initial launch saw the service cost $9.99 per month, but the European edition will cost £7.99/€8.99 per month, with users able to cancel at any time.

• Here's our list of the best productivity tools on the market

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