Google Maps new features coming soon, including AR-based Search with Live View

Tech conglomerate Google announced a couple of new features and changes coming to Maps in a recent blog post. AR-based Search with Live View is one of these upcoming features and it was unveiled back in September by the company. The company is also bringing a couple of other features such as EV charging station search and wheelchair-accessible search. The AR-based Search with Live View feature will only be available in select cities around the world though. Let’s unpack the new features Google has announced for Maps.

Google Maps AR-based Search with Live View

This feature was first introduced by the company in September and now, the company is prepared to roll out the update in select countries. The feature will be made available in select cities including Los Angeles, London, New York, Paris, San Francisco, and Tokyo. There’s no word so far on a global rollout.

The feature works just like the current Live View feature that helps users navigate using the phone’s camera. The Live View feature overlays arrows on top of your surroundings in real-time and also points to landmarks in the area. Now, using billions of street view images, AI (Artificial Intelligence) and AR (Augmented Reality) chops, the new Live View Search feature can show you shops, restaurants, banks, ATMs, and more in an area even if they are not in your direct line of sight.

All a user must do is enable the camera on their phone on Google Maps and point in the direction they’re headed, according to GSM Arena. Useful labels will pop up on these facilities that detail busy hours, prices, rating, and operational timings.

Other features in Google Maps’ upcoming update

A new EV charging station search feature is also coming that allows users to search for compatible stations and fast charging spots above 50 kW. This feature will also let users add a filter based on their electric vehicle’s plug type, which can prove to be quite nifty. In doing so, EV charging stations will get filtered out based on the ones that are compatible with your vehicle. 

This feature will be live on Android and iOS devices in select countries where EVs are commonly used, however, there’s no clear indication when this feature will make its way to India.

Lastly, we have a feature that Google is rolling out globally to Maps – wheelchair-accessible search. Previously, this was limited to select countries such as Australia, Japan, the UK, and the US. It has been two years since this feature has been available in these countries and now, Google is pushing it globally.

The feature lets users know when a destination they’re travelling to is wheelchair accessible. The feature will be available on both Android and iOS devices. To use it, turn on the Accessible Places setting in Google Maps’ Accessibility Settings menu. Once this is enabled, when you search for any place or business, you will see a wheelchair icon if the location is wheelchair-accessible.

For more technology news, product reviews, sci-tech features and updates, keep reading Digit.in or head to our Google News page. 

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Elon Musk reverses Donald Trumps Twitter ban, after an online spam honeypot poll

After Twitter banned former US President Donald Trump’s account following the events of January 6, 2021 at the US Capitol, Elon Musk the new owner of Twitter has reversed the ban and reinstated Donald Trump’s Twitter account.

“The people have spoken. Trump will be reinstated,” Elon Musk tweeted on Saturday night. “Vox Populi, Vox Dei,” Latin for “the voice of the people is the voice of God.”

The final Twitter poll results on Saturday night showed 51.8% in favour of reinstating Donald Trump’s account, while 48.2% of Twitter users opposed the move in the poll which included 15 million votes in total.

The people have spoken. Trump will be reinstated. Vox Populi, Vox Dei. https://t.co/jmkhFuyfkv

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 20, 2022 Donald Trump is back on Twitter 

Far beyond the political implications in the US of reversing Donald Trump’s ban, from a tech perspective, Elon Musk alluded that the poll might also serve as a ‘honeypot’ to attract Twitter spam bots.

In cyber security terms, a honeypot is a deliberately set up decoy to lure spam bots, malware, or cyber attackers and detect, deflect and study hacking attempts that try to gain unauthorised access into any system. 

According to Elon Musk, the Donald Trump poll was getting a massive 1 million votes per hour, which is a huge surge of viral activity by any stretch of the imagination. “Fascinating to watch the Twitter Trump poll. The bot attack is impressive to watch,” tweeted Elon Musk, in response to all the frenzied activity on Twitter surrounding the Donald Trump poll.

It’s not hard to imagine the Twitter poll being used to study the effectiveness of or even fine-tune the micro-blogging platform’s anti-spam measures. “Most accurate would be to require access to phone GPS for location-specific polls,” said Elon Musk, in one of his tweets around the subject of legitimate Twitter users who were polling their vote in the Donald Trump debate–and how to minimize and eliminate spam bots from influencing any Twitter poll in the future.

For more technology news, product reviews, sci-tech features and updates, keep reading Digit.in or head to our Google News page. 

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Indian Twitter rival Koo plans to go global, wants to hire employees fired by Elon Musk

Recently, Twitter has reduced its workforce to less than half of what it was before Musk walked into the headquarters. Reports suggest that half of the employees, including the then CEO Parag Agrawal, were fired by Musk and the core management, while a majority of the remaining are walking out voluntarily as the company is forcing a hardcore work environment. 

Koo welcomes ex-Twitter employees

It is apparent that the tech mogul is desperate to cut Twitter's costs and maximize revenue, a part of which is the new Twitter Blue subscription that costs $7.99 a month. However, the employees that have been fired might have a golden opportunity in front of them as the Indian microblogging platform Koo wants to hire ex-Twitter employees, per a report.

While the world remains divided on how Musk is petting his new bird, rival platform Koo has been taking advantage of the situation. In an attempt to lure frustrated Twitter users, Koo is adding several features to its app, making it a suitable alternative for anyone who wants to use a platform like Twitter, but not Twitter. 

However, the platform needs more engineers who can manage everything to accommodate more users and provide more features. Turns out, Mayank Bidawatka, the co-founder of the Indian microblogging platform, is looking to hire ex-Twitter employees fired by Musk. 

The platform wants to expand globally

Through his official Twitter account, Bidawatka recently announced that Koo would hire some of the Twitter ex-employees. He says that "they [the fired employees] deserve to work where their talent is valued. Microblogging is about people's power. Not suppression." 

Earlier this month, the CEO of the platform, Aprameya Radhakrishna, confirmed that Koo would launch in the United States soon. In addition, the ambitious platform also wants to roll out in other regions, including Africa, the Middle East, the Philippines and Bangladesh. 

For more technology news, product reviews, sci-tech features and updates, keep reading Digit.in or head to our Google News page. 

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WhatsApp is testing a new Camera Mode with dedicated buttons for photo and video: Report

The Meta-owned instant messaging platform WhatsApp is working on a new Camera Mode to help users quickly record videos. Currently, users have to press and hold the shutter button to record a video. However, that could change soon as the feature found in the beta version of WhatsApp for Android makes it to a stable update. Recently, the app has been working on several new features, including a dedicated version for Android tablets, profile photos within groups and more. Let's talk about the new Camera Mode that has been spotted by WhatsApp updates tracker WABetaInfo. 

New camera mode brings separate buttons for shooting photo and video

As per a report published on November 16, 2022, WhatsApp is testing a new Camera Mode in beta for Android v2.22.24.21. Apparently, the new Camera Mode redesigns how the WhatsApp camera interface looks. For instance, it will bring new icons and a dedicated photo/video mode, like the default camera app on users' smartphones. The report mentions that the new design will enable users to switch from photo to video mode easily, but wasn't that the case with WhatsApp? 

To take a picture, WhatsApp users have to tap the shutter button once, while to shoot a video, they need to tap and hold the shutter button. Although the dedicated photo and video modes eliminate the need to hold the shutter button, almost all popular apps, including Instagram and Snapchat, follow a similar approach of tap for picture and hold for video. 

Nevertheless, the new Camera Mode is available to a limited number of beta testers. However, the report mentions that WhatsApp will release the feature to more users soon. 

For more technology news, product reviews, sci-tech features and updates, keep reading Digit.in or head to our Google News page. 

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Elon announces new Twitters new content moderation policy, reinstates some banned accounts

On November 19, Musk announced the new Twitter policy, which is about "freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach." Along with this, the new boss of Twitter also announced that the platform has decided to bring back a few accounts that were taken down previously. The new content moderation policy and the act of bringing back banned accounts is a big step for the platform, especially when the most prominent advertising firms worldwide are discussing that advertising on Twitter is "high risk," a report by The Verge states. 

Twitter new policy does not allow users freedom of reach

In a tweet, Musk writes that the "new Twitter policy is freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach." To provide some context, social media platforms have a concept of reach, which refers to the number of users to whom a post or a tweet goes. The platform's algorithm often decides what users see on their feed based on their interests and previous search patterns, determining a post's reach in the process. 

New Twitter policy is freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach. Negative/hate tweets will be max deboosted & demonetized, so no ads or other revenue to Twitter. You won’t find the tweet unless you specifically seek it out, which is no different from rest of Internet.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 18, 2022

While all big names, such as Facebook and Instagram, have such an algorithm, Musk is saying outright that Twitter will consider freedom of speech, which refers to what users want to say. Still, it won't allow freedom of reach, which refers to the number of fellow users to whom the content reaches. 

Adding to it, Musk writes, "negative/hate tweets be max deboosted & demonetised, so no ads or other revenue to Twitter." It may be the reach of the negative or hate speech that Musk wants to limit. Since such posts often go viral, Twitter will also demonetise them so that creators cannot make any money from them. 

The platform restores a few banned accounts as well

From now on, Twitter users won't find a tweet unless they are specifically looking for it, which, per Musk, "is no different from rest of internet." Committing to the new policy, Musk has also announced that Twitter accounts Kathie Griffin, Jordan Peterson & Babylon Bee have been restored. 

However, former US president Donald Trump's account has not been reinstated yet. In fact, in his iconic way, Musk has conducted a poll on the microblogging platform, asking the internet whether they want Trump's account to be reinstated. Surprisingly, it has been ten hours since Musk posted the poll, and it already has over nine million votes, of which 52.5% favour bringing back Trump on Twitter (at 04:45 PM IST, November 19, 2022). 

Vox Populi, Vox Dei

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 19, 2022

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Oppo Reno 9 Pro could come with a Dimensity 8100-Max chipset and an AMOLED display: Report

The Chinese smartphone manufacturer Oppo is set to reveal the Reno 9 series in China on November 24, 2022. While the monikers of the smartphone in the Reno 9 series are not confirmed yet, reports suggest that the smartphones will carry the model numbers PHM110, PGX110, and PGW110. 

Oppo Reno 9 Pro specifications (leaked) 

Most recently, one of the three model numbers, which is said to be the Oppo Reno 9 Pro, has appeared on the TENAA certification platform. The listing reveals important details about the model, including its screen size, the processor it runs on and other specifications. 

Per a report by Gizmochina, the Oppo Reno 9 Pro could feature a 6.7-inch AMOLED display with an FHD+ resolution and support 10-bit colours. The report adds that the smartphone will feature a curved-edge display, something we have already seen on multiple smartphones till now. In addition, the display will support a refresh rate of up to 120Hz and have a fingerprint scanner built-in. 

Under the hood, the Oppo Reno 9 Pro will be powered by a 2.85GHz octa-core processor, reportedly the Dimensity 8100-Max. Oppo will pack in 12/16GB of RAM and 128/256GB of storage to accompany the processor. On the back panel, the phone is said to come with a 50MP primary camera, a Sony IMX890 sensor, and an 8MP ultra-wide camera. Last but not least, the smartphone will run on ColorOS 13, based on the latest Android 13. 

One of the variants could feature a colour-changing back

As none of the specifications mentioned in this article is confirmed by the company, readers should take it with a pinch of salt. Apart from the specifications, the official renders of the smartphone reveal that it will come in three colours, including black, gold and gold with a gradient. 

In the past, we have seen some cool back designs from Oppo, wherein the panel changes colours in the sunlight or shines in different shades from different angles. From what it looks like, the Oppo 9 Pro can also have at least one colour variant that reflects several colours. More information about the smartphone and other models in the Oppo Reno 9 series should surface on the internet soon. 

For more technology news, product reviews, sci-tech features and updates, keep reading Digit.in or head to our Google News page. 

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India could soon adopt Type-C port for smartphones and other electronic gadgets

The Indian Government has decided to make Type-C ports compulsory on electronic devices. As mentioned in the official press release published by the Government of India, the "industry should overcome inertia in adopting a uniform charging port in the interest of consumer welfare and prevention of avoidable e-waste." 

Indian government forms sub-group for uniformity of charging port

This was stated by the Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs, Rohit Kumar Singh, at a meeting of the Central Inter-Ministerial Task Force to examine the uniformity issue in charging ports of electronic devices such as wearables and smartphones, among others.

The meeting in concern was attended by representatives from educational institutes like IIT Kanpur, IIT (BHU), the Manufacturers' Association of Information Technology (MAIT), Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI). Varanasi and Central Government Ministries, including Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change. 

The release adds that the board presiding over the meeting agreed to adopt USB Type-C as a charging port for devices such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, smartwatches and more. However, the board wants to deliberate a different charging port for feature phones, which would most likely be the Micro USB port. 

In addition, the government also suggests that the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) may conduct a study to determine the impact of uniform charging ports in electronic devices concerning electronic waste. The release adds that the "uniformity in charging port is a step towards LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment) mission launched by Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi at COP-26 which calls for 'mindful and deliberate utilization."

How can this impact the Indian smartphone industry?

As mentioned earlier, this decision comes after the European Union made it compulsory for all electronics brands to equip their devices with a USB-C port by 2024. Reports suggest that the Indian government might adopt a similar timeline for making Type-C ports compulsory on electronic devices. 

Now, let's talk about how this may affect the electronics industry in the country. Lately, popular brands that sell wearables and other electronic devices have started incorporating the USB Type-C, even on affordable devices. Even entry-level smartphones are coming with USB-C ports these days. However, some brands use proprietary charging solutions on their laptops or smartphones, Cupertino-based Apple being one of them. 

For years, Apple has manufactured iPhones with a Lightning Port, whereas it ships iPads and MacBooks that are compatible with Type-C ports. Hence, even after purchasing products from the same brand, users must carry two different types of charging cables to power their iPhone and their iPad or MacBook. However, once the Government of India mandates the use of Type-C ports, Apple will have no option but to comply. 

For more technology news, product reviews, sci-tech features and updates, keep reading Digit.in or head to our Google News page. 

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