Software & Apps News - Page 51

A new social media platform released by Team Trump has debuted on the Google Play and Apple App Store. It's called GETTR.

The release of the GETTR has been in response to many conservatives leaving mainstream social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter after claiming both platforms are censoring conservative content and people. GETTR states its mission is "fighting cancel culture, promoting common sense, defending free speech, challenging social media monopolies, and creating a true marketplace of ideas."

The platform is led by Trump's former spokesman, Jason Miller, and Tim Murtaugh, Trump's former campaign spokesperson, is also involved as a consultant to GETTR. Trump has yet to confirm if he will be making an account on the app or if this is the long-awaited social media platform that he vowed he would create for his followers. A person involved with the app did confirm that there is an account reserved for him if he chooses to join.

Video length on TikTok is what makes it fantastically easy to browse, but the days of 1-minute videos will soon come to an end as the company is implementing support for 3-minute videos.

Since last December, TikTok has been testing 3-minute videos with its top creators, and perhaps you may have come across one of the videos, as only a select amount of viewers were able to receive the videos. Now, TikTok has announced on its website that it will be rolling out the new feature to everyone "over the coming weeks".

It will be very interesting to see how this new feature is received and, in particular, how it will affect the much respected For You recommendation algorithm. Users that enjoy TikTok for its fast and short content guidelines may now experience an unwanted amount of recommended 3 minute long videos in their For You Page, essentially causing "clutter" in users once clean For You Page.

New reports are indicating that Spotify is thinking about expanding its business portfolio into ticket sales for events.

According to a report from The Information, Spotify is "considering" expanding its business and that Spotify is thinking about taking a ticket sale route. The Information puts forward the idea that Spotify is interested in using its data to create more avenues of revenue and plans on doing this by helping musicians plan events in places that promoters may not think are viable.

The Information also mentions that Spotify may be looking to take this avenue to show that it is willing to invest in artists' careers. Furthermore, the move would create a feature of interest that other competing music streaming platforms won't have. The Black Keys and Leon Bridges have already appeared in prerecorded virtual concerts by Spotify that the company sold $15 tickets to, which means Spotify has already stepped foot in this area. However, the last point is no verification of Spotify officially making this business shift.

Former President Trump made moves against TikTok's parent company ByteDance as the former President's administration expressed concerns over the app's privacy policy.

Now, TikTok has recently made changes to its privacy policy which allows the app to "collect biometric identifiers and biometric identification" from user content. For those wondering if that includes faceprints and voiceprints - yes, it does. Here's what the company's privacy policy says, "We may collect biometric identifiers and biometric information as defined under US laws, such as faceprints and voiceprints, from your User Content. Where required by law, we will seek any required permissions from you prior to any such collection."

The TikTok insiders have come out to CNBC and said that ByteDance "has access to American user data and is actively involved in the Los Angeles company's decision-making and product development." Additionally, one TikTok insider said that ByteDance has the capabilities of accessing data for all American TikTok users, as the employee reached out to ByteDance in China to harvest data on a specific user. The parent company promptly sent back the relevant information after performing a global analysis of its user base.

Microsoft is now pushing out its first Windows 11 Preview Build, and with it the company is admitting fault with its "PC Health Check" app and addressing users' concerns with it.

In a new post on its official blog, Microsoft explains: "The intention of today's post is to acknowledge and clarify the confusion caused by our PC Health Check tool, share more details as to why we updated the system requirements for Windows 11 and set the path for how we will learn and adjust".

The post continues: "PC Health Check app was intended to help people check if their current Windows 10 PC could upgrade to Windows 11. Based on the feedback so far, we acknowledge that it was not fully prepared to share the level of detail or accuracy you expected from us on why a Windows 10 PC doesn't meet upgrade requirements".

Microsoft has followed through with its promises of releasing the first Windows 11 Preview Build for its Insiders on the Dev Channel.

Windows 11 Build 22000.51 is available and while this is the very latest version of Microsoft's operating system, it won't pack all of the new features and functions that Windows 11 will have when it releases officially later this year. But, there are still some great things to play around with inside of Windows 11 Build 22000.51 now that it's out.

Amanda Langowski and Brandon LeBlanc of the Windows development team wrote explains: "As we finalize the product over the coming months, we will work with you to validate the experience. You will get to try many, but not all, of the new features we showed last week in this early preview".

It looks like PC gamers are in for a treat with Windows 11, with Microsoft aiming for its latest operating system to be the "the best Windows ever for gaming".

During the Windows 11 reveal, Xbox corporate vice president for game creator experience and ecosystem, Sarah Bond, said that Windows 11 is "the best Windows ever for gaming". Microsoft is building the Xbox Game Pass "right into Windows 11" which is going to be a huge contributor to Windows 11 and its "best Windows ever for gaming" marketing.

Xbox Games Pass being built directly into Windows 10 doesn't just give you everything on Xbox ala carte, but rather it will let gamers "play the highest-fidelity fames on all PCs". If you sign up for the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, then you'll get access to cloud streaming.

Microsoft is still months away from the official release of Windows 11, but between now and then we can expect a flurry of betas to hit Windows Insiders -- giving us a nice hype ramp over the coming months to the full release of Windows 11.

Windows 11 beta builds will begin going out to Windows Insiders starting June 28, 2021 -- just days from now. The early build of Windows 11 going out to Windows Insiders isn't the full Windows 11 though, as it'll be missing features -- which features we don't know just yet -- and not providing the full Windows 11 experience.

You can join the Windows Insider program, if you've got Windows 10 installed -- and if you've got the right hardware. You can sign up to the Windows Insider program on the official website, or if you type "Windows Insider" into the Search bar on Windows 10 you can do it all from there.

Windows 11 was revealed and detailed today, with one of the biggest surprises is that Microsoft's next-generation operating system will run Android apps.

During the Windows 11 reveal, Microsoft and Intel announced that Intel Core-powered Windows PCs would be capable of running Android apps, as well as multi-monitor support through Intel Thunderbolt 4 technology. Intel Core-based PCs with Thunderbolt 4 will have out-of-the-box support for multi-monitors and Windows 11's new Windows Snap technology.

But what about AMD? Will the AMD Ryzen CPUs be capable of running Android apps on Windows 11? That remains to be seen, as Microsoft and Intel weren't clear on that during the announcement. Intel Core CPU + Windows 11 = runs Android apps... but Intel did say Intel Bridge technology was designed to work on "all x86 platforms".

Microsoft has just unveiled and detailed its next-gen Windows 11 operating system, and sure -- we've got a fresh new UI, a totally new Start menu, and so much more -- but did you know that Windows 11 will run your Android apps, too?

That's right -- Windows 11 will let you run your Android apps, but get this... it'll be done through the Amazon Appstore because that totally makes sense. All of your favorite Android apps will be downloaded through the Amazon Appstore, from the redesigned Microsoft Store inside of Windows 11.

This will be a big blow to Apple which has been shifting more and more onto the desktop with its fresh new iMac that uses Apple's new in-house M1 chip, with future iMacs to use the next-gen M2 processor. Apple's big shift away from Intel has been happening for years, and now Microsoft is embracing Android apps with Windows 11.