Alexa app to allow move music between speakers without voice command

by Hansraj Agrawal | Feb 19, 2023 | Technology

Amazon has introduced a new feature in the Alexa mobile app, in a recent update, allowing users to manage and move their music between Echo devices (or groups of multiple speakers) within the app itself.

Previously, users needed to use voice commands to perform some of those actions, reports The Verge.

Users can also play audio across Echo Show and Fire TV devices through the Alexa app.

The current Echo speaker lineup from Amazon includes the standard Echo, Echo Dot, Echo Dot with Clock, Echo Studio, and optional Echo Sub subwoofer.

Moreover, the tech giant has also developed a new overview screen for the Alexa app, which it calls the “Active Media List”.

This is accessible whenever audio is playing on users’ systems and displays what’s playing where as well as allowing them to control multiple products from a single list, according to the report.

Last month, Amazon and Disney teamed up to launch a new voice assistant called ‘Hey Disney!’, which was shown with a live demonstration at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2023.

The “first-of-its-kind” voice assistant will provide customers access to a “wide range of Disney magic through Echo devices at home and as a complimentary service at select Disney Resorts hotels”, Amazon said in a blogpost.

–IANS

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(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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Meta accounts for 82% of fines under EU privacy laws, shows data

by Hansraj Agrawal | Feb 19, 2023 | Technology

Penalties imposed on Meta Platforms constitute 82.6 per cent of the total fines imposed under the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Tsaaro — a data privacy and cyber security services provider — reveals in its Privacy Fines Report 2022, a first-of-its-kind survey of enforcement trends under the GDPR.

Tsaaro has analysed about 500 fines and penalties imposed by EU data protection authorities under the GDPR. Indian laws under the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill 2022 also have provisions for penalties. Tsaaro expects that India will see a similar story.

The fines seek to rectify wrongs committed, and caution firms that privacy breaches will not be taken lightly and non-compliance would incur the authorities’ ire.

Key findings

82.6% share of total fines accounted for by Meta Platforms (amount paid: €697mn)

86% share of total fines accounted for by the media, telecom and broadcasting industry

26% share of firms in finance, insurance and consulting that violated Art 5 of GDPR

29% of penalised firms in the transport and energy sector violated Art 6 of GDPR

10% of total fines were imposed on public sector entities and educational institutions

12 Number of penalties of €500,000 in 2018

166X Increase in total penalties in 4 years

€831.25mn Total penalty amount in 2022 (440 fines)

€20 mn Amount that fines can go up to for serious violations listed in Art 83(5) of GDPR, or up to 4% of the preceding fiscal year’s total global turnover for companies

€10 mn Fines of up to this amount for less-severe violations, as defined in Art 83(4) of GDPR, or 2% of a firm’s worldwide sales during the preceding fiscal year, whichever is higher

Top 5 provisions for which organisations were penalised:

Art 5, 6, 12, 13, 32

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Meta-owned WhatsApp adds new stickers for avatar pack on iOS, Android

by Hansraj Agrawal | Feb 19, 2023 | Technology

Meta-owned WhatsApp has added some new stickers to its avatar sticker pack for Android and iOS, following its announcement of the ability to create personalised avatars.

In spite of the same number of stickers in the avatar pack, the changes made have given it more personality and depth by redesigning and replacing some stickers in order to improve their visual appeal and reflect the diverse range of feelings and expressions users wish to convey, reports WABetaInfo.

New stickers within the avatar pack are now available for all users on WhatsApp for iOS and Android, said the report.

With the new avatar sticker pack, users can customise the avatar right within the app settings by choosing the shape, colour, clothes, and several accessories that best express them.

Once they have created their avatar, they can use it as their profile photo.

Meanwhile, WhatsApp is reportedly rolling out picture-in-picture mode for video calls, for all iOS users.

With this feature in the new update, users can now multitask during a WhatsApp call without their video being paused.

Other than the picture-in-picture mode, the new update also includes — the ability to attach a caption to the documents, and longer group subjects and descriptions to make it easier to describe the groups.

–IANS

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(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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Google rolls out memory, energy saver modes for Chrome on Mac, Windows

by Hansraj Agrawal | Feb 19, 2023 | Technology

Google has rolled out the Memory and Energy Saver modes for Chrome on Mac, Windows, Linux, as well as Chromebooks.

By default, Google’s Memory and Energy Saver are enabled, but users can turn them off/on by going to Chrome Settings under Performance (in the sidebar), according to 9to5Google.

Chrome’s Memory Saver automatically “frees up memory from inactive tabs” to give other pages and apps on users’ computers more resources.

In addition to using the Memory Saver, Chrome also allows users to add sites directly to the “Always keep these sites active” list if they run into issues or don’t like waiting for tabs to refresh after being away from a device for a while.

The tech giant said that “Chrome uses up to 30 per cent less memory” with Memory Saver and that it can be used to “keep your active video and gaming tabs running smoothly”, the report mentioned.

Meanwhile, with Energy Saver, “Chrome conserves battery power by limiting background activity and visual effects”.

This includes animations and smooth scrolling, as well as reduced video frame rates.

When active, users may “notice changes in the gaming and video performance,” and it’s represented by a leaf icon to the right of the Omnibox with the ability to quickly disable, said the report.

Last week, Google announced that it has rolled out two new features — Partial Custom Tabs and Chrome Custom Tabs — that will bring the best of Chrome to Android developers and users.

–IANS

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(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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Mozilla Firefox adds three new extensions for its Android web browser

by Hansraj Agrawal | Feb 19, 2023 | Technology

Mozilla, the developer of the Firefox Internet browser, has added three new extensions for its Android web browser to enhance the browsing experience of its users.

These extensions include — hiding the user’s email address when signing up to a website, removing tracking elements before sharing a URL, and listening to an article.

With the “Firefox Relay” extension, users will be able to hide their real email address to help protect their identity.

This will prevent online entities from collecting user email addresses and using them for unrequested marketing or other purposes.

Moreover, the company introduced the “ReadAloud” extension, allowing users to listen to web articles instead of reading them.

“ReadAloud uses text-to-speech technology to convert webpage text to audio. It works on a variety of websites, including news sites, blogs, fan fiction, publications, textbooks, school and class websites, online universities and course materials,” Mozilla said in a blogpost.

Further, the company adds a “ClearURL” extension, allowing users to remove the tracking elements from the links.

“Sites include tracking elements in the URLs for a number of reasons, but the bottom line is that it’s used to track you. ClearURLs simply removes the tracking elements from the links, so you have a simple and clean URL,” said Mozilla.

–IANS

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(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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Google Meet users gets new 360-degree video backgrounds on mobile

by Hansraj Agrawal | Feb 19, 2023 | Technology

Google has launched several new 360-degree video backgrounds for Meet users on Mobile for both iOS and Android.

“Meet users on mobile can use several new 360-degree video backgrounds. These backgrounds — which include a beach and a temple — use your device’s gyroscope to create a dynamic experience that moves with you,” Google said in a Workspace Updates blogpost.

“Available on Android and iOS devices for all Google Workspace users and users with personal Google Accounts,” it added.

Moreover, the tech giant also launched another update in which developers can now include interactive widgets like checkboxes, radio buttons, and dropdowns in “Chat app cards” that are posted in the Chat message stream.

With this, users will be able to quickly modify information sent from Chat apps, such as, changing the assignee on a task card or changing the due date on a task card, and selecting or deselecting options on a card.

Last week, Google announced a new feature to its video-communication service ‘Google Meet’, which will allow users to include captions in a meeting recording.

The new feature will help make meeting recordings more useful and accessible for meeting participants.

–IANS

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(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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