Google Meet Introduces In-meeting Emoji Reactions 🎉, PiP, Among Other Features
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Google Meet Introduces In-meeting Emoji Reactions 🎉, PiP, Among Other Features
Google is introducing a host of major updates to Google Meet that will make it easier for users to express themselves and make their hybrid meetings more productive.
Among these, one of the features will allow users to use emoji reactions during a meeting. The in-meeting emoji reactions will appear in a participant’s video tile or overflow alongside their name if their video tile isn’t visible.
In the coming weeks, Google Meet will be coming with a picture-in-picture (PiP) feature on Chrome browsers.
This feature will allow presenters and multitaskers to see their meeting audience while navigating different tabs and windows.
Google Meet will also be available directly in Google docs, sheets, and slides, allowing users to quickly start a meeting and bring it to a document, spreadsheet, or presentation.
Apart from these features, Google is also planning to add several other features to Meet, including adding optional end-to-end encryption for Meet conversations for all its Workspace customers.
Besides, the search giant will roll out client-side encryption for Business Plus, Enterprise Plus, and Education Plus customers.
Alexa Will Now Notify Users When Items in Cart 🛒 go on Sale
Amazon is rolling out a new feature to Alexa that will notify users if an item in their cart or wishlist is about to go on sale.
The new feature will now notify users up to 24 hours in advance of a deal going live. Customers will then be able to ask Alexa to order the items on behalf of them when the deal is live or send a reminder. This feature will also work on items that were marked ‘saved for later’ on the platform.
Only Amazon Prime customers in the United States who own Echo smart speakers that are a fourth-generation or newer can take advantage of the new capability for now.
You can enable the new feature by opening the Alexa app by navigating to the ‘Amazon shopping’ section from your notifications settings and selecting ‘shopping recommendations’ and then enabling ‘deal recommendations.’
The e-commerce behemoth says that the new feature is designed to make daily tasks more convenient for users and will complement Alexa’s existing shopping tools, such as its Reorder notifications.
Circle Selects BNY Mellon For Custody of Its USDC Reserves
USDC stablecoin issuer Circle has selected Bank of New York Mellon (BNY) as a primary custodian for its USD Coin (USDC) reservers.
Circle is a global internet finance company that enables businesses of all sizes to harness the power of digital currencies and blockchain for payments and financial applications globally.
It is the sole issuer of the USDC stablecoin whose value is directly pegged to the U.S. dollar and is currently the second-largest stablecoin with a current market capitalization of over $50 billion.
This new partnership between Circle and BNY Mellon will facilitate an exchange of expertise on a range of topics across digital and traditional markets, including the bridging of traditional & digital capital markets, digital asset custody, investment management, and more.
“We are at a point in the evolution of our industry where the digitization of assets is presenting new and exciting opportunities to a broad range of market participants,” said Roman Regelman, chief executive officer of asset servicing and head of digital at BNY Mellon.
He added saying, “Our role as a custodian for USDC reserves supports the broader marketplace and brings value to clients, founded on our role at the intersection of trust and innovation.”
Intel Buys Optimization Software Provider Granulate For $650 Million 💰
Intel is acquiring the Israel-based developer of real-time continuous optimization software Granulate Cloud Solutions Ltd in a deal reportedly worth $650 million.
In an announcement, Intel said that the acquisition of Granulate will “help cloud and data center customers maximize computer workload performance and reduce infrastructure and cloud costs.”
The acquisition is expected to close in Q2 2022, subject to typical closing conditions. Once the deal is completed all 120 employees of Granulate are expected to join Intel’s data center and artificial intelligence (AI) business unit.
Sandra Rivera, executive vice president and general manager of the Datacenter and AI Group at Intel said, “Granulate’s cutting-edge autonomous optimization software can be applied to production workloads without requiring the customer to make changes to its code, driving optimized hardware and software value for every cloud and data center customer.”
“As a part of Intel, Granulate will be able to deliver autonomous optimization capabilities to even more customers globally and rapidly expand its offering with the help of Intel’s 19,000 software engineers,” said Asaf Ezra, co-founder, and CEO of Granulate.
Around the Web 🌐
Crypto Tax Becomes Law in India: The government of India’s new crypto law announced in Union Budget 2022, came into effect from April 1, wherein any income from the transfer of any virtual digital asset (VDAs) shall be taxed at the rate of 30%. This tax would apply to all crypto assets like Bitcoin, Ethereum, among other coins to NFT and related earnings.
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