Technology

The new effects include Dust Max, Black and White Film, Light Leak and more, reports Android Police.

These effects add a personal touch to the users' videos.

The Poster effect makes the video appear like folded paper, while the Layouts effect offers a neat block-by-block look to the selfie videos.

Moreover, the company has made video playback controls easier to use.

Along with the play and pause buttons, there are now buttons to skip forward and backward.

Also, the company has removed the old floating box style and added a full-screen view which shows up when users activate the profile menu, the report said.

Last month, the tech giant had added new editing features to the photo sharing and storage service, including Portrait Light, Portrait Blur and Dynamic, for Google One (cloud storage service) subscribers on the web.

Meanwhile, it was reported that the company was testing an on-demand cinematic effect feature in Google Photos.

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Between May 1 and May 31, 6,508,000 WhatsApp accounts were banned and 2,420,700 of these accounts were proactively banned, before any reports from users in the country.

In the month of April, WhatsApp, which has more than 500 million users in India, had banned a record over 74 lakh bad accounts.

The most popular messaging platform also received 3,912 grievance reports like "ban appeals" in May in the country, and the records "actioned" were 297.

“Accounts Actioned" denotes reports where WhatsApp took remedial action based on the report and taking action denotes either banning an account or a previously banned account being restored as a result.

"This user-safety report contains details of the user complaints received and the corresponding action taken by WhatsApp, as well as WhatsApp's own preventive actions to combat abuse on our platform," according to the company.

In a bid to empower millions of Indian social media users, the Centre recently launched the Grievance Appellate Committee (GAC) that will look into their concerns regarding content and other issues.

The newly-formed panel, a move to strengthen the country's digital laws to tame the Big Tech companies, will look into appeals by users against decisions of social media platforms.

In a major push towards an open, safe, trusted and accountable Internet, the Ministry of Electronics and IT has notified some amendments aimed at protecting the rights of 'Digital Nagriks’.

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"We’re expanding our “Why Am I Seeing This?” feature in Instagram Reels tab and Explore, and Facebook Reels in the coming weeks, after previously launching it for some Feed content and all ads on both Facebook and Instagram," Nick Clegg, President, Global Affairs at Meta, wrote in a blogpost.

"You’ll be able to click on an individual reel to see more information about how your previous activity may have informed the machine learning models that shape and deliver the reels you see," he added.

Moreover, the tech giant said that it wants to be more transparent about its AI (artificial intelligence) systems and give more control to users over the content shown to them.

"Today, we’re building on that commitment by being more transparent around several of the AI systems that incorporate your feedback to rank content across Facebook and Instagram. These systems make it more likely that the posts you see are relevant and interesting to you,” Clegg said.

Meta is also testing a new feature on Instagram which will make it possible for users to indicate that they are “Interested” in a recommended reel in the Reels tab, so the company can show them more of what they like.

Users can already select "Not Interested" from the three-dot menu on the post to see fewer posts of that type.

Further, the company released 22 system cards for Facebook and Instagram, which will give information about how their AI systems rank content, some of the predictions each system makes to determine what content might be most relevant to users, as well as the controls they can use to help customise their experience.

The cards will cover Feed, Stories, Reels and other surfaces where people go to find content from the accounts or people they follow. The system cards will also cover AI systems that recommend “unconnected” content from people, groups, or accounts they don’t follow.

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The initiative will include new, free coursework developed with LinkedIn, including the first Professional Certificate on Generative AI in the online learning market, a new open global grant challenge in coordination with data.org to uncover new ways of training workers on generative AI and greater access to free digital learning events and resources for everyone to improve their AI fluency, according to the company.

Under the Professional Certificate on Generative AI coursework, workers will learn introductory concepts of AI, including a look at responsible AI frameworks, and receive a Career Essentials certificate when they pass the assessment.

"This Professional Certificate on Generative AI is currently available in English and will launch in Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Simplified Chinese, and Japanese over the coming months on LinkedIn Learning," Microsoft said in a blogpost on Wednesday.

Moreover, the tech giant is also launching a trainer toolkit for teachers, trainers, and facilitators, which will provide skilling resources and training to local communities.

The toolkit will include downloadable, bite-sized content for trainers, including a new AI course built for educators by Microsoft Education and content on the practical uses of AI, the company said.

"AI offers perhaps even more potential for the good of humanity than any invention that has preceded it," said Microsoft’s President and Vice Chair Brad Smith.

Additionally, the company is releasing the Microsoft Learn AI Skills Challenge, a free technical training challenge to learn essential AI skills with Microsoft products and services, beginning on July 17.

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"If you’re live streaming a video meeting, meeting hosts can now enable the Q&A and poll features," the tech giant said in a Workspace Updates blogpost on Wednesday.

Earlier, these features were only available in traditional Meet meetings.

"Expanding these features to live streamed meetings will help take your meetings to the next level with a more feature-rich, collaborative experience."

The Q&A feature in Meet provides an easy way to better engage audiences and help them get their questions answered, both at work and in school.

Educators can use Q&A as a structured way for students to ask questions on class content and get answers from teachers. On the other hand, businesses can use this feature to help make meetings more inclusive, allowing everyone to ask questions. Also, participants can submit and upvote their favourite questions without disrupting the flow of the call.

Polls are a way to quickly gauge the pulse of the audience. Users can use polls to identify topics that need more discussion or test understanding of the meeting content.

"This means business users can easily get real-time feedback from their colleagues, teachers can quiz remote students to ensure they're absorbing the material, and sales teams can make their sales presentations to prospective customers more engaging and interactive," the company said.

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Before debuting a new product, the company sends information to partner retailers and mobile carriers to help them prepare for the new product’s release, reports SamMobile.

According to @_snoopytech_, the company already sent the information about the new Galaxy Z Fold 5, Z Flip 5 and Galaxy Tab S9 series.

However, the leaker mentioned that the company has not shared any information about upcoming audio products.

This indicates that a new pair of Galaxy Buds might not be unveiled at the Unpacked event.

Earlier this month, Samsung had announced that it will unveil its next-generation foldable devices at the Galaxy Unpacked event in late July in Seoul, the capital of South Korea.

The Unpacked event will take place at the Convention and Exhibition Center (COEX) in Samseong-dong.

Seoul was chosen this year due to its influence on global trends through its innovative and dynamic culture, and it also shows the company's strong confidence in the foldable category.

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Beta users will receive a message that invites them to try calling their groups, reports WABetaInfo.

Earlier, only the ability to place audio calls with up to 32 people was available on Windows.

However now, with the latest update, beta users can also video call with up to 32 people.

The new feature is currently available to some beta testers that install the latest WhatsApp beta for Windows update, and is expected to roll out to more users over the coming days, the report said.

In November last year, Meta Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg had announced this feature for Android and iOS.

Earlier this month, it was reported that the messaging platform was rolling out a screen-sharing feature for video calls to some beta testers on Windows.

With this feature, users will get the choice to share a specific window or the complete screen with everyone participating in the video call.

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The Shop tab allows users explore movies to buy or rent and make purchases directly on their Android TV, the tech giant said in a support page on Wednesday.

"So whether you are searching for a new and popular movie not yet available on other streaming services or you are looking to make a one-time movie purchase without a subscription, the Shop tab makes it easy."

The new Shop tab is rolling out to Android TV devices in the US and will roll out globally over the next few weeks.

"Along with finding new movies to buy or rent, you can also access your purchases from the new Library in the Shop tab," the company said.

All purchases made from the users' Google account will be available in Your Library, including purchases from YouTube, other Google TV and Android TV devices and the Google TV mobile app.

"Visit the Shop tab to start watching instantly, or download your purchased content through the Google TV mobile app on your phone or tablet to watch offline," it added.

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