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Microsoft plans to bring internet access to 40 million people by 2022

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Moving forward, the company plans to connect 40 million people across the world to the internet by 2022. Initially, Microsoft will focus on rural and remote communities in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa, with other regions to follow. The company adds that it plans to employ a four-part approach that will focus on working with local ISPs and communities to build out affordable and reliable internet access. Microsoft is pushing regulators for access to TV White Space (TVWS), which are wireless frequencies that can be repurposed to deliver internet access across a wide area.

“A wireless technology or a business model that is suitable for connecting customers in one location might not be suitable for connecting customers in another location,” Shelley McKinley, the company’s head of technology and corporate responsibility, wrote in a blog post on the announcement. “Our experience has shown us that a multi-stakeholder approach is needed to close the connectivity gap.”

Closer to home, Microsoft is working on building out internet access in rural communities across the US. The company currently aims to bring high-speed internet access to more than 9 million people in Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas.

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Android 10 phones may have to hide third-party navigation gestures

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Companies that want to keep Android Pie’s navigation gestures can do so for updates on existing devices, but it appears that new devices won’t have that fallback.

We’ve asked Google for comment. If this is accurate, it puts some Android hardware creators in a tough position. Brands like Huawei, OnePlus and others frequently advertise their custom gestures as stand-out features. The new policy would effectively negate those customizations. That could provide a more consistent user experience between devices, but it could also diminish variety in Android devices and give you less reason to pick one phone over another.

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A House bill could cap the concentration of nicotine in e-cigs

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The European Union enforces a similar cap, but the US does not currently have a national standard. According to CNN, Juul’s five-percent pods have 59 mg/ml. Juul has said that’s equivalent to the nicotine-per-puff ratio in a pack of cigarettes. Some say the high-nicotine content in vape products is one reason the rate of teen vaping has been climbing. Others argue that the high-nicotine content has helped smokers transition away from cigarettes.

Regardless, companies, states and politicians are taking a stance against vaping products. Today, Kroger announced that it will stop selling e-cigs. Walmart and Rite Aid have made similar announcements. Massachusetts has temporarily banned vaping products until the CDC can determine what’s causing the vaping-related lung illness, and New York and Michigan have placed similar temporary bans on flavored vaping products.

The nicotine content in e-cigs has not been linked to the mysterious vaping-related illness. But regardless of the illness, legislators like Rep. Krishnamoorthi are concerned with the increase in teen vaping. According to the 2019 National Youth Tobacco Survey, 27.5 percent of high schoolers now use e-cigs, up from 20.8 percent in 2018.



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Watch the trailer for Apple’s first TV+ documentary ‘The Elephant Queen’

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It’ll join a lineup of shows Apple is planning for the first wave of titles on TV+, including the star-studded The Morning Show, a comedy based on the life of Emily Dickinson and alternate-history space race saga For All Mankind. Also on deck are kids shows Ghostwriter and Helpsters, sci-fi series See and M. Night Shyamalan’s Servant.

Like many of those shows, The Elephant Queen hits Apple TV+ on the service’s November 1st launch day. You may have a chance to catch it before then, though, as it’ll arrive in theaters October 18th.

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Final Cut Pro X gets a speed boost through Apple’s Metal

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On the new Mac Pro, the updated Final Cut Pro X offers support for multiple GPUs and up to 28 CPU cores. Apple says that translates to rendering that’s up to 2.9 times faster and transcoding that’s up to 3.2 times faster than on the previous-generation 12-core Mac Pro. With the Pro Display XDR, Final Cut Pro users will be able to view, edit, grade and deliver video with 1,000 nits of full screen sustained brightness, 1,600 nits peak brightness and a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio. They’ll also be able to take advantage of Apple’s Afterburner hardware to play up to 16 streams of 4K video or work in 8K resolution with support for up to three streams of 8K ProRes RAW video.

As part of the Final Cut Pro 10.4.7 update, the companion apps Motion and Compressor are also getting Metal upgrades, including improved playback and accelerated graphics. All of the app updates are free to existing users and available today.

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Hulu subscribers can finally download shows to watch offline

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Hulu downloads

Among the shows you’ll be able to watch offline are Hulu Originals such as The Handmaid’s Tale, Shrill, Veronica Mars and The Act, as well as the likes of Family Guy, This is Us, How I Met Your Mother and ER. You can download 25 titles at a time across five devices. You’ll have 30 days to watch them, though you’ll be able to renew your downloads as long as those titles are still on Hulu.

For now, you can download Hulu shows and movies on iOS. The feature will be available on Android soon.

Offline viewing has been a long time coming for Disney-operated Hulu, and it’s a necessary move for the platform. It said in 2018 that downloads were on the way and noted they would be ad-supported — that’s no longer the case. Rival Netflix has offered downloads for almost three years, while Disney+ and Apple TV+ will each have offline viewing at launch next month.

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Instagram is removing its ‘Following’ activity tab

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For better worse, a lot of people found out a bit too much about their friends’ interests through the following tab. On the one hand, you could see all the great doggos your friends follow. On the other hand, you could see all the Instagram models they like as well. It was not a good scene.

Instagram’s Vishal Shah told Buzzfeed News the company is removing the feature because it wasn’t getting a lot of use. “People didn’t always know that their activity is surfacing,” Shah told the website. “So you have a case where it’s not serving the use case you built if for, but it’s also causing people to be surprised when their activity is showing up.” He went on to add, “Simplicity was the driving factor.”

Instagram first added “Following” back in 2011. However, as a way to discover new accounts and photos, the app’s “Discover” tab does a much better job of surfacing interesting content.



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Instagram is helping users avoid phishing scams

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Instagram Email Phishing Security Feature

The list displays security-related emails that instagram has sent within the past two weeks. A secondary tab lists emails that aren’t security-related, such as announcements about new features or direct message notifications. If you received an email from Instagram with a subject prompting you to change your password, for example, you could open up the app, check to see if that email is listed in the security tab, and then either delete it or read it depending on if it’s a genuine message.

It’s encouraging to see social media companies embracing increased levels of security. However, most problems come from data breaches and bugs rather than phishing scams. Earlier this year, third parties exposed the data of 540 million Facebook users. Last year, Twitter urged all of its users to change their passwords after every login credential was accidentally converted from a hashed code into easily readable plain text. At least with measures against phishing like this Instagram feature, more users can take their accounts’ security into their own hands.

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macOS Catalina is available to download today

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Also new in this release: As you browse episodes in the podcast app, you’ll see avatars for guests and hosts. Apple also says it’s made some small usability tweaks to Sidecar, the feature that allows you to use an iPad as a secondary Mac display. You’ll also notice more promotional Apple TV+ material in the new TV app, which makes sense — the streaming service launches November 1st. It’ll cost $4.99 a month, but Apple is offering a free year with the purchase of a new Mac, iPhone, iPad or Apple TV.

All told, some pretty minor revisions since the Catalina preview opened to the public back in June.

Beyond that, everything else should seem familiar to people who have been using the early software, or at least reading about it. In short, it’s all about the apps. There are the iPad ports, of course, along with some redesigned and brand new first-party ones from Apple. This includes standalone programs for music, podcasts and TV; a redesigned Reminders app; and new features in Notes, Safari, Mail and Photos.

There’s also a dedicated “Find My” app where you can see your devices on a map, including those without cellular connections. In the case of devices like laptops, which aren’t connected to a cellular network, Apple detects its location using encrypted Bluetooth data from other Apple devices passing by.

You’ll also find extensive Screen Time options in the settings menu, more or less matching what’s already available on iOS. And a new Voice Control feature gives quadriplegics and other people with limited mobility granular control over the operating system. An Apple spokesperson says that the feature in its final form should be able to distinguish between Voice Control commands and Siri requests without getting confused.

Keep an eye out for our full review and in the meantime, remember to back up all you stuff before installing new software. Happy downloading and do let us know in the comments how the install goes.

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Amazon announces its first-ever Kindle for kids

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With the two year guarantee, Amazon says it’ll replace the device for free should anything happen to it. FreeTime Unlimited, if you’re not familiar, offers some 20,000 kid-friendly books, videos and apps. It works across multiple devices, so you have a backup when your kid wants to do something else. You can add it to your existing Prime subscription for $2.99 per month. Otherwise, it costs $4.99 per month. Amazon also has prepaid yearly options for families with either one or more children.

Amazon has also added a variety of new software features to keep kids reading. In addition to the Kindle’s built-in dictionary, the Kids Edition includes a feature called Word Wise that will automatically define any difficult words. The e-reader will turn any word a child lookups into a flashcard for later review. There are also achievement badges to earn, as well as more fun wallpapers than the ones that come standard with the company’s other Kindles. It’s also worth mentioning the Kids Edition is based on the Kindle update Amazon announced in March, so it includes an adjustable front light.

At $109.99, the Kindle Kids Edition is more expensive than the $89.99 Kindle but not as pricey as the $129.99 Paperwhite. The Kindle Kids Edition is available to pre-order starting today, and it will ship on October 30th. If you buy two of the e-readers at the same time, Amazon will give you 25 percent off the total price of the two products.

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