Neowin®

Meta has admitted that it will start laying off some of its employees, and will stop hiring for the upcoming year. It will also impose stricter financial restrictions to brace for a tougher year.

Twitter is now offering an "Immersive" video player and an Explorer tab for recommending the most popular content on the platform. The microblogging network seems to be following TikTok.

Alice, a commuter airplane with two propellers powered by electric motors has conducted its first flight. The duration of the journey is limited by batteries. It also has restrictions on capacity.

YouTube has released new features for Smart TVs. Any device that can output 5.1 Surround Sound will be able to do so for videos that have the content, and users will be able to chat while casting.

Microsoft 365 and Office subscriptions will get complimentary access to "Premium filters and effects" available for the Clipchamp cloud-based video editor. The Essential pack costs $12 per month.

Mozilla has implied that tech giants such as Google, Microsoft, and Apple use their dominant position in the market to limit, steer, and influence consumer choice, especially regarding web browsers.

The Indian government has proposed a new law which could grant the administration sweeping powers to bypass end-to-end encryption (E2EE) and intercept messages and calls on platforms such as WhatsApp.

Instagram suffered a two-hour-long outage. The social media platform has now come back to life and started to function normally. The exact cause behind the service going down isn't yet known.

Meta and Google have so far avoided reducing their workforce. Instead of announcing layoffs, these tech giants are restructuring their departments and asking employees to join active projects.

Microsoft might not label fake news as "false". The company seems concerned that the topic is heavily politicized, and hence might go after creators and distributors of disinformation campaigns.

Microsoft Xbox Update Preview coming to the Alpha ring members of the Xbox Insider program. The update allows muting the startup sound of the console and tests a new filter system for games and apps.

Google is moving Reminders from Assistant and Calendar to an independent app called Tasks. The app will assimilate everything from every device and help users. Google Keep isn't going away either.

NVIDIA RTX Remix is a platform that will allow modders to add Ray Tracing to decades-old classic games that worked on DirectX 8 and 9. The tool will add a lot more data for "realistic" light effects.

YouTube has announced 'Creator Music', which allows YouTubers to use licensed music in their videos without attracting penalties. There's a catalog of popular music, with flexible revenue sharing.

The free LibreOffice productivity suite has started demanding a convenience fee of about $9. This charge is only applicable to a particular group of users and can be easily avoided.

Google is rolling out a pilot program that allows political campaigns to secure "Spam Folder Exemptions", which ensures Gmail's junk mail detection is intentionally stalled for certain emails.

iPhone 14 reveals a shift in Apple's stance about performing DIY repairs. The device's teardown video reveals some interesting design choices that make it easier, not harder, to perform repairs.

Ethereum cryptocurrency and its loyal crypto-miners are at an inflection point. The transition from PoW to PoS was smooth, but that has made expensive crypto mining rigs all but irrelevant.

Despite bringing down the computational requirements by transitioning to a proof-of-stake (PoS) method of validation, neither the Gas fees nor the time taken for transactions, are coming down.

The upcoming revision of Sony's PlayStation Virtual Reality gaming headset will not be compatible with the current generation of games. Owners will have to retain their old hardware to play them.

Ethereum finally completed "The Merge". While moving to a Proof of Stake validation will bring down energy usage, the transition has already pulled down the cryptocurrency's exchange price.

Amazon has announced “Customers Ask Alexa”, which is a subtle and creative way to serve ads to customers who ask questions to the virtual assistant. Brands will be able to answer common queries.

Via its Azure Space initiative, Microsoft is offering Azure Orbital Cloud Access in private preview. The Azure Orbital Ground Station is generally available and will benefit satellite operators.

Instagram is testing a new tool that could allow social media influencers on the platform to quickly and easily create a media kit that are commonly used to attract business deals.

Apple has sent out iOS and iPadOS 15.7, and macOS 12.6. These contain security patches that are already in iOS 16. Apple has two reasons for seeding incremental updates alongside latest versions.

Google has disbanded the Pixelbook team and has stopped work on the next-gen device as it seeks to streamline operations. Those looking for Chromebooks will still be able to buy them from other OEMs.

Valve will now accept broken, damaged, or malfunctioning Steam Deck to perform repairs. The company has a mail-in service which won't ask for a fee for eligible repairs that are covered by warranty.

Google has added new apps and features to its Wear OS. Smartwatch users running the latest version will be able to set Bitmoji as a watch face and stick 'Tiles' notes for enhanced customization.

Meta has disbanded the Responsible Innovation team that was tasked with finding potential problems with Facebook and Instagram. The members will have work opportunities, but no guaranteed jobs.

Netflix will add 10 new games to its growing catalog under Netflix Games, a mobile gaming venture. With the latest additions, subscribers will be able to download and play 32 game titles.

YouTube is offering a way to offer videos that do not have ads, recommendations, and external links. Content without distractions can help viewers focus, but only select creators will qualify.

Apple has now allowed “Unlimited” instances of repairs per year under the AppleCare+ subscription. The company previously restricted the service to just two incidents of repairs in a year.

After adding E2EE to hard-wired and plug-in video doorbells, Ring has extended the feature to its battery-powered or fully-wireless devices. The company will also allow the transferring of devices.

Intel is trying to garner hype and boost sales of its Arc Alchemist graphics cards and Alder Lake processors by offering free games and productivity software with every purchase of a bundle.

A new Chromecast dongle with Google TV as its OS could debut soon at a cheaper price point, competing with devices like the Amazon Fire TV Stick Lite as a secondary streaming device.

The Steam Deck portable gaming PC can now confidently run at least 5,000 games from the Steam library. Valve has been consistently testing titles and discovered that 2,000 of them are 'Unsupported'

In addition to laying off a fifth of its workforce, Snap is also shuttering its startup accelerator program called Yellow. The program extended $150K funding and mentoring to promising startups.

Apple will grant access to additional compute hours on the Xcode Cloud via new subscription plans. The free plan will continue to exist until the end of 2023 but will cost $15/month thereafter.

Google claims it is cracking down on VPN services that track user data and reroute traffic for ad monetization. The company will cripple apps that can interfere with or block advertisements.

Twitter is offering Circle, a free feature that allows users to send out Tweets to up to 150 people. These limited-visibility Tweets can be muted, but users cannot remove themselves.