Bill Toulas writes via Bleeping Computer reports: Google is notifying Gmail users that the webmail's Basic HTML view will be deprecated in January 2024, and users will require modern browsers to continue using the service. After that date, all users of the popular webmail service will automatically be redirected to the more modern Standard view, which supports all the latest usability and security features.

The basic HTML view is a stripped-down version of Gmail that does not offer users chat, spell checking, keyboard shortcuts, adding or importing contacts, setting custom "from" addresses, or using rich text formatting. This feature is designed for people living in areas with internet access, using older hardware with limited memory, or using legacy web browsers that do not support current HTML features.

However, one of the biggest reasons users use HTML view is that text-to-speech tools used by users with visual impairment are more reliable, as the Standard view introduces technical complexities that are harder for these tools to manage. Nonetheless, Google has decided to retire Gmail's HTML view without providing specific reasons.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: A few months ago, an engineer in a data center in Norway encountered some perplexing errors that caused a Windows server to suddenly reset its system clock to 55 days in the future. The engineer relied on the server to maintain a routing table that tracked cell phone numbers in real time as they were being moved from one carrier to the other. A jump of eight weeks had dire consequences because it caused numbers that had yet to be transferred to be listed as having already been moved and numbers that had already been transferred to be reported as pending. "With these updated routing tables, a lot of people were unable to make calls, as we didn't have a correct state!" the engineer, who asked to be identified only by his first name, Simen, wrote in an email. "We would route incoming and outgoing calls to the wrong operators! This meant, e.g., children could not reach their parents and vice versa."

Simen had experienced a similar error last August when a machine running Windows Server 2019 reset its clock to January 2023 and then changed it back a short time later. Troubleshooting the cause of that mysterious reset was hampered because the engineers didn't discover it until after event logs had been purged. The newer jump of 55 days, on a machine running Windows Server 2016, prompted him to once again search for a cause, and this time, he found it. The culprit was a little-known feature in Windows known as Secure Time Seeding. Microsoft introduced the time-keeping feature in 2016 as a way to ensure that system clocks were accurate. Windows systems with clocks set to the wrong time can cause disastrous errors when they can't properly parse time stamps in digital certificates or they execute jobs too early, too late, or out of the prescribed order. Secure Time Seeding, Microsoft said, was a hedge against failures in the battery-powered on-board devices designed to keep accurate time even when the machine is powered down.

"You may ask -- why doesn't the device ask the nearest time server for the current time over the network?" Microsoft engineers wrote. "Since the device is not in a state to communicate securely over the network, it cannot obtain time securely over the network as well, unless you choose to ignore network security or at least punch some holes into it by making exceptions." To avoid making security exceptions, Secure Time Seeding sets the time based on data inside an SSL handshake the machine makes with remote servers. These handshakes occur whenever two devices connect using the Secure Sockets Layer protocol, the mechanism that provides encrypted HTTPS sessions (it is also known as Transport Layer Security). Because Secure Time Seeding (abbreviated as STS for the rest of this article) used SSL certificates Windows already stored locally, it could ensure that the machine was securely connected to the remote server. The mechanism, Microsoft engineers wrote, "helped us to break the cyclical dependency between client system time and security keys, including SSL certificates."

Telegram is introducing a new Stories feature that is currently only available for Premium subscribers but will be available to all users eventually. 9to5Mac reports: With Telegram Stories, users are able to share photos and videos that disappear after a while. However, Telegram is trying to do more than its competitors. For instance, users can choose whether a Story will expire after 6, 12, 24, or 48 hours. Most apps make Stories disappear after 24 hours. Telegram also lets users create lists with different contacts for each Story. This means that you can share a specific Story with your best friends and another one just for your coworkers. The interface is similar to what you find in other apps that already offer Stories, with a list of available Stories at the top of the list of chats. Also similar to the Stories feature in apps like Instagram and Snapchat, you can send reactions and reply to someone else's Story. However, there's a catch.

While everyone can see Telegram Stories, only those who pay for Telegram Premium can post Stories. "Posting stories is currently available only to subscribers," a message in the app says when non-Premium users try to create a new Story. It's uncertain whether the Stories feature will become free for everyone eventually, but the term "currently" suggests it will. According to Durov, although the Telegram team was initially against the idea of having Stories in the app, the feature was one of the most requested by its users. "Even the skeptics on our team started to appreciate this feature. We can no longer imagine Telegram without it," he said last month.

According to a Reddit user, Apple's Visual Look Up feature has been expanded in iOS 17 to include all of the various symbols on a vehicle's dashboard -- "everything from the labels used for HVAC controls, to the warning lights that only turn on when there's a problem," reports Gizmodo. From the report: Apple introduced a feature with iOS 15 called Visual Look Up that uses AI to analyze photos taken with the iPhone's camera and attempt to decipher them, providing more information about what's in the shot. It gave the iPhone the power to determine the breed of the dog you snapped at the park, or what type of flower was growing in your neighbor's garden.

Reddit user yahlover shared several screenshots of the iOS 17 beta successfully recognizing and showing explanations for symbols like the double triangle labelling the button that turns on a car's hazard lights, and even the setting that defrosts the windshield.

Although these symbols are now nearly universal across all vehicles, they can still be cryptic, especially to newer drivers. And while eventually vehicle dashboards will all just be giant screens with the ability to provide more descriptive information about controls and warnings, it's going to be decades before the standard dashboard iconography used today disappears forever.

In iOS 17, iPhone users who change their passcode will be able to reset it within 72 hours using the previous passcode. However, users can choose to expire the previous passcode immediately in the Settings app to increase security. MacRumors reports: If you enter an incorrect passcode, tapping on "Forgot Passcode?" at the bottom of the screen will lead to another screen with a "Try Passcode Reset" option. Tapping this option allows you to enter the iPhone's previous passcode and create a new passcode. As a safeguard, an option in the Settings app lets you expire the previous passcode immediately so that it cannot be used to reset the new passcode.

As of the first beta of iOS 17, it is still possible to change an Apple ID account's password with an iPhone's passcode, despite a Wall Street Journal report in February highlighting instances of thieves spying on an iPhone user's passcode in public and then stealing the device in order to gain widespread access to the device. In an interview with Daring Fireball's John Gruber last week, Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi said Apple has continued to "look at other ways to address this," but no changes have been made as of yet.

Apple's new iOS 17 includes a Sensitive Content Warning feature that notifies users when they receive unsolicited nude images. Insider reports: Apple said in a press release that the Sensitive Content Warning would help adult users avoid seeing unwanted nude images and videos. The company would not get access to the content as processing for the new feature occurred on the user's device, the press release added. The tech giant is also expanding Communication Safety, a feature aimed at protecting children, to cover sending and receiving content via AirDrop, Contact Posters, and FaceTime messages. The privacy feature will also expand to cover video content, as well as images. Further reading: Apple Announces iOS 17 With StandBy Charging Mode, Better Autocorrect

Amazon has introduced a new feature to Prime Video called Dialogue Boost. It's intended to isolate dialogue and make it louder relative to other sounds in streaming videos on the service. Ars Technica reports: Amazon describes how it works in a blog post: "Dialogue Boost analyzes the original audio in a movie or series and intelligently identifies points where dialogue may be hard to hear above background music and effects. Then, speech patterns are isolated and audio is enhanced to make the dialogue clearer. This AI-based approach delivers a targeted enhancement to portions of spoken dialogue, instead of a general amplification at the center channel in a home theater system."

Not all content will be eligible for the dialogue boost feature, though -- at least not yet. Amazon says it "has initially launched on select Amazon Originals worldwide" like The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and The Big Sick. While this is partly an accessibility feature for people who are hard of hearing, Amazon is also responding to a widespread complaint among viewers. A 2022 survey found that 50 percent of 1,260 American viewers "watch content with subtitles most of the time," many of them citing "muddled audio" and saying that it's more difficult to understand dialogue in movies and TV shows than it used to be. [...] The company hasn't announced when the feature will expand to more content. But we wouldn't be surprised to see rapid expansion -- not just from Amazon, but from other streamers offering similar features, too.

YouTube TV just won its first Technical Emmy award for its "Views" suite of features, which lets users access sports highlights, key plays, player stats and game scores. TechCrunch reports: At the 74th annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards last night, YouTube TV was declared the winner for the category "AI-ML Curation of Sports Highlights." The tech company also announced today that Key Plays reached a notable milestone -- the feature was used in over 10 million watch sessions on the platform. Last year, viewers used key plays the most during the World Cup, regular season NFL games and Premier League matches.

The Key Plays view tracks important plays in a game. Users can tap on the plays to rewatch when it occurs in the game. This is helpful for users that missed a live game and want to catch up on key moments. When YouTube TV launched Views in 2018, it was only available for baseball, basketball, football and hockey. Soccer and golf were added later on. The suite of features was also initially limited to phones and tablets. Today, the feature is available within the YouTube TV app across smart TVs and mobile devices.

In addition to Stats, Key Plays and Scores View, there's also Fantasy Football View, which is a mobile-only feature and lets users link their existing fantasy football account. That way, when a user is watching NFL games on YouTube TV, the feature allows them to see how their team is performing in real time. Plus, there's a "Jump to" function for users to quickly access a segment they want to view, which is especially handy for tennis fans and for users watching the Olympics. "Views came out of a team brainstorm about five years ago and launched about a year after YouTube TV," said Kathryn Cochrane, YouTube TV's group project manager, in a company blog post. "A lot of our viewers are devoted sports fans, and we found that when they watch sports, they aren't just looking at what's on the big screen. They were also actively on their phones, finding more details such as stats for their fantasy football league, updates from other games, and more, all to enhance what they were already watching."

Microsoft is working to bring native support for RGB PC gaming accessories to Windows 11. The Verge reports: The Windows lighting experience will include the ability for PC gamers to configure accessories with RGB lighting without having to install third-party software. Twitter user Albacore has spotted early work for integrating this new lighting experience into Windows 11 in the latest public test builds of the operating system. Options for controlling brightness, lighting effects, speed, and colors can all be found in the settings interface of Windows 11. There's even a feature that will match your accessories to the Windows accent color.

The iPhone 15 Pro models are in line for a massive upgrade to their wired transfer speeds with the switch to USB-C, according to noted analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Unfortunately, he doesn't believe that benefit is coming to the regular 2023 iPhones. The Verge reports: He predicts that the 15 and 15 Plus will also swap in USB-C ports but, just like the 2022 10th-gen iPad, they'll be stuck with the same USB 2.0 speeds they had with Lighting. Kuo made the prediction in a series of tweets on Wednesday and says the information is from his "latest survey." (The analyst is known for getting information from supply chain sources.) He specified by predicting that the "15 Pro & 15 Pro Max will support at least USB 3.2 or Thunderbolt 3." If that's true, that'd mean they could transfer data at speeds up to 40 Gbps -- a boon for people who actually use the Pro phones to shoot a lot of ProRes video and raw photos, where even fast WiFi and cloud uploads aren't really a good substitute.

Google announced today that it's introducing a slew of new Maps, Search and Shopping features. The company revealed a majority of the new features during its Search On event in September and is now starting to roll them out to users. TechCrunch reports: Search
Starting today, users will be able to use Search to find their favorite dish at a restaurant near them. For example, you can search "truffle mac and cheese near me" to see which nearby restaurants carry the dish on their menu. Once you find a specific dish that you're looking for, you can get more information about its price, ingredients and more. Another new Search functionality lets you use Google's multisearch feature to find specific food near you. Say you see something tasty-looking online, but don't know what it is or where to find it. You can now use Lens in the Google app for Android or iOS to snap a picture or take a screenshot of a dish and add the words "near me" to find a place that sells it nearby. Later this year, Google is going roll out an update to its Lens AR Translate capabilities so users can more seamlessly translate text on complex backgrounds. Instead of covering up the original text like it currently does, Google is going to erase the text and re-create the pixels underneath with an AI-generated background, and then overlay the translated text on top of the image.

Maps
As for the new Maps features, Google is launching a new visual search experience called Live View in London, Los Angeles, New York, Paris, San Francisco and Tokyo. [...] In addition to displaying information about where places are, users will be able to see key information about each spot overlaid, such as whether the location is busy, if its open, what the price range is, etc. Another new Maps feature makes it easier for EV owners to find the best charging station for their vehicle. Now, you can search for "EV charging stations" and select the "fast charge" filter. You can also filter for stations that offer your EV's plug type. Google also announced that it's expanding its "accessible places" feature globally after initially launching it in the U.S., Australia, Japan and the U.K. in 2020. The feature is designed to help people determine whether a place is wheelchair accessible.

Shopping
Google has announced a new AR shopping feature that is designed to make it easier to find your exact foundation match. The company says its new photo library features 148 models representing a diverse spectrum of skin tones, ages, genders, face shapes, ethnicities and skin types. As a result, it should be easier for shoppers to better visualize what different products will look like on them. [...] Users can now also shop for shoes using AR.

In a post to /r/reddit, Reddit announced that it began rolling out a feature that will allow users to mute specific communities that contain content they don't want to see. Ars Technica reports: If you mute a subreddit using this feature, posts from it won't show up in your notifications, home feed recommendations, or Popular, Reddit's feed of the most upvoted content from across its various communities. Later, Reddit plans to apply muting to other places like "All" and "Discover." Muting a community won't stop you from being able to visit or post it, though. You can mute up to 1,000 communities and tweak your muted list at any time in Settings. The report notes that this new muting feature is only available in Reddit's iOS and Android apps for now. For updates on availability, Reddit directs users to their changelog feed.

At its Zoomtopia conference, the company announced a bunch of features that are coming to its platform, including two key ones for productivity: email and calendars. Engadget reports: You can connect third-party email and calendar services to Zoom and access them through the desktop app. The company says that can help save you time instead of having to switch between apps and perhaps needing to hunt for the right tab in your browser. Those on the Zoom One Pro or Zoom Standard Pro plans will be able to set up email accounts through the platform, and folks with certain plans have the option to use custom domains. You'll get up to 100GB of storage included. The key selling point is that messages sent directly between Zoom Mail Service users (i.e. those who use Zoom's email hosting services) will have end-to-end encryption. You'll also be able to send external emails that can expire and contain access-restricted links.

As for Zoom Calendar, there will be options to see which of your contacts has joined a meeting, and you can schedule Zoom voice and video calls in the app. Zoom's own calendar service will include the ability to book appointments. On the way in 2023 is a feature called Zoom Spots. The company describes this as a virtual coworking space where colleagues can stay more connected during the workday via video-first conversations. While the company didn't reveal too much detail about Zoom Spots in its blog post, there may be a downside as the feature could enable bosses to keep a closer eye on what their employees are doing.

Businesses will soon be able to employ Zoom Virtual Agent, a conversational AI and chatbot designed to help customers resolve issues. That tool will be available in early 2023. Other things in the pipeline include a way for developers to make money from the Zoom Apps Marketplace and a virtual coach to help sellers perfect their pitches. As for the core functions people know Zoom for, there's a feature on the way that connects team chats with in-meeting chats. You'll be able to carry the conversation from one to the other and back again to keep things flowing. The company is also looking to roll out translation options for team chats in 2023. In the near future, you'll be able to schedule a chat message to send at a later time.

Zoom Phone is coming to the web, which should be handy for many folks. A progressive web app will be available for ChromeOS too. Meanwhile, users will be able to use a one-click chat message as a response when they can't answer a call. As for Zoom Rooms, there will be a way for folks in one of those to join a Google Meet room and vice versa. Last, but by no means least, Zoom revealed a string of updates for meetings. The Smart Recordings feature uses AI to generate summaries, next steps and chapters to make archived meetings more digestible and help you get to the part you're looking for. There will be meeting templates that can automatically configure the right settings and a way to record videos with narration and screensharing that you can send to colleagues. On top of that, you'll have more avatar options, including the ability to use a Meta avatar.

Starting with macOS Ventura, released this week, the built-in Preview app on Mac no longer supports PostScript (.ps) and Encapsulated PostScript (.eps) files, according to a new Apple support document. MacRumors reports: Preview can still be used to open these files on macOS Monterey and earlier. Apple did not provide a reason for the change. Apple recommends using other third-party Mac apps that can view or convert PostScript files. It also remains possible to print .ps and .eps files by dragging them into a Mac's printer queue [...].

Developed by Adobe in the 1980s, the .ps and .eps file formats were once widely used for desktop publishing/printing purposes. PostScript was the basis of rendering on the NeXT operating system, and was mostly replaced by the PDF format in Mac OS X.

Firefox 106 is now available for download, bringing various new features and enhancements, such as a new PDF editing feature and new way to organize recently closed tabs. 9to5Linux reports: Mozilla says that Firefox 106 finally brings the long-anticipated two-finger swipe horizontal gesture for navigating back and forward on a website without having to hold down the Alt key. [...] Firefox 106 also introduces annotation capabilities to the built-in PDF viewer so you can write text, draw, or add signatures on PDF files. You'll be able to change the size and color of the text tool, as well as the thickness, opacity, and color of the draw tool.

Another interesting new feature of the Firefox 106 release is called Firefox View, which is implemented as a pinned tab, promising to help you get back to the content you've previously discovered by allowing you to switch seamlessly between your devices running Firefox. On top of all that, Firefox 106 also brings major WebRTC changes to improve Windows and Wayland screen sharing, RTP performance and reliability, statistics, and more. There are also the usual bug and security fixes to make Firefox more stable and reliable on your system.

Apple is bringing Stage Manager, a new multitasking system exclusive to iPads with the M1 chip, to a number of older devices. Engadget reports: Probably the biggest change Apple announced with iPadOS 16 earlier this year is Stage Manager, a totally new multitasking system that adds overlapping, resizable windows to the iPad. That feature also works on an external display, the first time that iPads could do anything besides mirror their screen on a monitor. Unfortunately, the feature was limited to iPads with the M1 chip -- that includes the 11- and 12.9-inch iPad Pro released in May of 2021 as well as the M1-powered iPad Air which Apple released earlier this year. All other older iPads were left out.

That changes with the latest iPadOS 16 developer beta, which was just released. Now, Apple is making Stage Manager work with a number of older devices: it'll work on the 11-inch iPad Pro (first generation and later) and the 12.9-inch iPad Pro (third generation and later). Specifically, it'll be available on the 2018 and 2020 models that use the A12X and A12Z chips rather than just the M1. However, there is one notable missing feature for the older iPad Pro models -- Stage Manager will only work on the iPad's build-in display. You won't be able to extend your display to an external monitor. Apple also says that developer beta 5 of iPadOS 16. is removing external display support for Stage Manager on M1 iPads, something that has been present since the first iPadOS 16 beta was released a few months ago. It'll be re-introduced in a software update coming later this year.

ChromeOS 104 is rolling out starting today with several big interface updates that improve how you use the operating system. 9to5Google reports: ChromeOS 104 introduces proper dark and light themes that touch every aspect of the user interface. This includes the shelf, app launcher, Files app, and the backgrounds of various settings pages. You can enable the dark theme from the second page of Quick Settings. Google also created wallpapers that "subtly shift from light to dark," depending on the set theme. After updating, you'll notice that the month and day now appear to the left of the time in the shelf. Tapping opens a monthly calendar with the ability to tap a day to see all events, with an additional click opening the Google Calendar PWA. You can see other months and quickly return to "Today." This takes up the same size as Quick Settings, while any available alerts appear just above. Notifications from the same sender are now grouped together, while there are bigger touch targets for alert actions.

The redesigned Launcher that's more compact and does not take up your entire screen is seeing wider availability. Additionally, some might be able to quickly search for Android apps from the Play Store with an inline rating. Version 104 of ChromeOS introduces a more full-featured Gallery app (with a new purple icon) that can open PDFs with the ability to fill out forms, sign documents, and make text annotations, like highlights. There's also a new Wallpaper & style application that's accessed by right-clicking the shelf and selecting the last option. Besides the collections curated by Google, you can set wallpapers from your Google Photos library. There's the ability to select an album and have a new background appear daily. This experience also lets you set the device theme (auto-switching available), and Screen saver with three styles available: Slide show, Feel the breeze, and Float on by.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Search Engine Land: Twitter is testing a new feature that would eliminate the constraints of its 280-character tweet limit and allow users to publish long-form tweets. Twitter confirmed the test via a tweet.

When this will become available to all Twitter users? It's unclear. Twitter noted: "We're excited for the moment when everyone can use Notes, but for now, our focus is on building it right. A large part of that is engaging with writers and building community." For now, Twitter plans to test it over the next two months with a small group of writers from Canada, Ghana, the UK and the U.S.

In Twitter Notes, it looks like you will be able to add:
- Formatting: Bold, italic and strikethrough text; insert ordered/unordered lists; add links.
- Media: You can add one GIF, one video, or up to four images.
- Tweets: You can either embed tweets by pasting URLs or from bookmarked tweets.

Notes also has a "Focus mode," that makes the article composer full-screen.

Google Search is now testing a row of widgets on desktop web for an experience that's similar to Discover. 9to5Google reports: These cards appear at the very bottom of google.com. There's a "Hide content" toggle in the bottom-right corner, while Google notes your zip code/city and explains that the information offered is "Based on your past activity." When the window is fully expanded, six cards are offered and they all expand on hover:

- Weather: Condition (with) icon + temperature. Three-day forecast on hover
- Trending: Cover image with search count
- What to Watch: Shows and movies with cover art
- Stocks/markets: Day graph on hover
- Local Events: With date
- COVID News

Tapping opens the full web result with the usual Knowledge Panel card and/or related Google Search experience. The number of cards that appear depends on the size of your screen with no way to scroll and see more without physically expanding the window. We're only seeing this rolled out on two Google Accounts, albeit across several signed-in devices, today. As such, this is very likely a test to determine whether a full rollout is warranted.

Intel's mysterious Software Defined Silicon (SDSi) mechanism for adding features to Xeon CPUs will be officially supported in Linux 5.18, the next major release of the operating system. Tom's Hardware reports: SDSi allows users to add features to their CPU after they've already purchased it. Formal SDSi support means that the technology is coming to Intel's Xeon processors that will be released rather shortly, implying Sapphire Rapids will be the first CPUs with SDSi. Intel started to roll out Linux patches to enable its SDSi functionality in the OS last September. By now, several sets of patches have been released and it looks like they will be added to Linux 5.18, which is due this Spring. Hans de Goede, a long-time Linux developer who works at Red Hat on a wide array of hardware enablement related projects, claims that SDSi will land in Linux 5.18 if no problems emerge, reports Phoronix. "Assuming no major issues are found, the plan definitely is to get this in before the 5.18 merge window," said de Goede.

Intel Software Defined Silicon (SDSi) is a mechanism for activating additional silicon features in already produced and deployed server CPUs using the software. While formal support for the functionality is coming to Linux 5.18 and is set to be available this spring, Intel hasn't disclosed what exactly it plans to enable using its pay-as-you-go CPU upgrade model. We don't know how it works and what it enables, but we can make some educated guesses. [...]