On Saturday, June 13, SpaceX launched another batch of Starlink satellites, bringing its total to 540 units. The launch took place from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida using the Falcon 9 rocket, which was successfully landed at sea soon after the launch. In addition to the Starlink satellites, SpaceX also launched three small satellites called Skysats intended for observing Earth.
When you search something on Google -- a popular celebrity, for example -- you'll see an information panel that includes relevant details at a glance: age, notable works, immediate family members, birth date, and similar things. Facebook is now testing an information panel of its own that is largely the same, though it is found in the social media website's search results -- and it, too, is powered by Wikipedia.
This afternoon Google released Android 11 Beta for Pixel 2, 3, and 4, with a very obvious upgrade to Voice Access. This is a feature in Android that allows the user to make commands - it's part of the "OK Google" and Google Assistant family. This feature now, far more accurately than ever before, understands screen context and content, so you can ACTUALLY control your phone without touching your phone.
Ads are the bane of many people's Internet lives but they are also the lifeblood of many companies. Striking a balance between those two parties without resorting to shenanigans and illegal practices has become an almost never-ending quest for the likes of Google. From third-party browser extensions to premium subscriptions, there have been different methods of removing ads on web pages and videos. The simplest, it turns out, is to just add a single dot after the ".com" of a YouTube URL.
Twitter is going to bring back its verification requests feature, at least according to a new leak. This tool enables users to directly request that Twitter verify their accounts, giving them the coveted blue checkmark on their profile. The feature was removed in 2017 after the social media company verified a white supremacist, but it may return alongside new policies that'll prevent a second mistake.
Facebook News, the feature first introduced in October 2019, is rolling out to all users in the United States. With Facebook News, users in the US get access to a dedicated news portal featuring articles from a variety of publishers, including local news agencies. The portal is found within its own dedicated tab, though news stories will still appear in the regular Facebook News Feed, as well.
The folks at Bungie responsible for Destiny and Destiny 2 just announced a landmark decision for the game - no new games! Instead, they've decided to adopt a Disney sort of "vault" model. Disney used to place certain big-name movies into the "Disney Vault" to create artificial scarcity (which worked GREAT before the internet). Bungie will place Destiny content in a "Destiny Content Vault (DCV)" when it becomes "older, less actively played content", so that they're able to concentrate on new content and content updates for the game currently called Destiny 2 for the foreseeable future.
Facebook has published a new document that aims to guide its online communities on how to talk about social and racial issues. The guidance comes amid increased drama in a number of Facebook groups, with users getting into arguments, moderators and Page admins being accused of censorship, and more. Whether Facebook's input will actually have any sort of impact on these discussions is yet to be seen.
The COVID-19 coronavirus has definitely changed the world in more ways than one. Until cures or even at least a vaccine has been discovered, the way we interact with each other and do businesses will have to change and adapt to what is being called the "new normal". For some businesses, that means a change in operations and hours and Google My Business is now giving them more flexibility in how they want to show those changes to customers via Google Search and Google Maps.
Google has been accused of tracking users in Chrome, even when the Incognito privacy mode was enabled, with a new lawsuit seeking $5 billion in damages. Filed in the federal court in San Jose, California this week, the proposed class action suit alleges that Google contravenes the Federal Wiretap Act.
This week Windows Spellcheck was released for Windows devices. This is a Microsoft-made spellchecking system, ready to support devices with Windows 8.1 and higher. Before now, Windows devices were using open-source proofing tools for spell checking on Microsoft Edge and other Chromium browsers - but no more!
The coronavirus crisis has put many things on hold, from businesses to software updates. Last month, Google put many of its plans for Chrome on hold to avoid the risk of breaking people's browsers or websites. Now it thinks it has given people enough breathing room for a while and has already restarted Chrome updates, including one that could potentially break some websites. Then again, that might be for the best considering how it would force site owners to clean up their cookies.