Facebook brings Zoom to Portal TV because we love video calls on giant screens

Facebook introduced Portal TV – a device that turns your TV into a giant video call screen – back in 2019. The device can already stream Netflix, lets you check who’s at the front door, has Alexa built-in, and more importantly, allows video calling. Until now, it had support for video calling via WhatsApp, Messenger, and Messenger Rooms. And now, it is getting support for another platform that has arguably defined video calling during the pandemic era – Zoom.

READ MORE: Facebook’s first go at cloning Clubhouse success is here. Say hello to Hotline!

In addition to Zoom, Portal TV is also getting support for GoToMeeting. “Now, your favorite Zoom functionality extends to the largest screen in your home, so you can work from your couch as well as your desk. That includes joining breakout rooms for brainstorming in smaller groups, calendar integration to help you stay on top of your schedule, screen sharing to improve remote collaboration, and virtual backgrounds to improve your overall experience,” the company said in its blog post.

Priced at $129, the camera automatically does panning and zooming to make sure that you’re always in the frame. Plus, it adjusts the field of view so that more people can fit in the frame. Facebook has also baked in a Smart Sound feature that suppresses background noise and amplifies the voice of the speaker for more clarity. And for the sake of privacy, it comes with a physical sliding cover that covers the front camera when not in use. 

READ MORE: Facebook data of over half a billion users leaked. How to check if you were affected?

Coming to the video calling aspect, Portal TV users can start a video call on Messenger Rooms with up to 50 people in it. Another cool feature is Story Time, which uses an AR overlay to turn you into a storybook character while reading a children’s story, complete with background music and animation effects. While the Portal line of products appears promising on paper, they haven’t gained much traction against competition from the likes of Google Nest and Amazon’s Echo range.

View Portal TV on Amazon

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Zoom is making its automatic closed captioning feature free for all users

Zoom has today announced that it is extending the platform’s Live Transcription capability to all users, both free and paid. The company – which recorded a massive boost in its user base as work and education shifted to a remote collaboration format in the pandemic era – has announced that Live Transcriptions will be rolled out for all users on its free service tier in the fall season. 

Coming in the fall season, but you can request an early preview

However, if you want to try the feature prior to its wider rollout, you can request early access to the service by filling out a form. To recall, Live Transcription has so far been exclusive to the paid Pro, Business, Education, and Enterprise accounts, as well as approved K-12 accounts on both its desktop and mobile clients. However, it appears that the accessibility feature in question is limited to supporting the English language only at the moment.

READ MORE: Google is at work to improve the Meet and Zoom experience on Chromebooks

Additionally, Zoom has also highlighted a few pre-requisites for the Live Transcription feature to work properly. The company says that the performance of its real-time automatic transcription feature depends on factors such as the level of background noise, how loud and clear the speaker’s voice is, and if the speaker is proficient in the English language. Additionally, dialects and words limited to a particular region might prove to be limiting as well. 

Factors such as background noise and how good an English speaker you are, will affect the performance

And in case the Live Transcription feature is not proving to be particularly useful due to any of the aforementioned limitations, Zoom already offers a manual captioning feature to all users. A meeting’s host can either take the responsibility of closed captioning the ongoing interaction on himself, or he can assign the duty to an attendee of his choice. Moreover, Zoom also allows users to rely on a third-party closed captioning service as well. 

READ MORE: Zoom’s ambitions expand to email and calendar service after pandemic surge: Report

Zoom itself recommends a manual captioner for a higher degree of accuracy instead of its AI-based solution whose efficiency is dependent on a variety of external factors. The Live Transcription feature is currently available on v5.0.2 (or later version) of Zoom for Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS. 

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Zoom’s ambitions expand to email and calendar service after pandemic surge: Report

If there was one brand that really stood out in 2020, it was Zoom. The company’s fortunes skyrocketed, thanks to the sudden and unprecedented rise in the user base of Zoom’s eponymous video-conferencing service for enterprise, academic, and personal use. Spurred by the growth, the company is now looking to expand the horizons of its business beyond just video calling and has zeroed in on two areas – an email client and a calendar service

Zoom has a Google-sized challenge in front of it

As per a report from The Information, the company has already started working on its email service, and it might enter a closed testing phase among a handful of users early next year. “The company has begun developing a web email service and might offer a very early version of the product to some customers next year, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter. The company also is looking into building a calendar application, one of the people said. The efforts haven’t been reported previously,” says the report.

READ MORE: Google brings Zoom video call experience on the Next Hub Max smart display

Zoom’s calendar service, on the other hand, might be a bit far off at the moment. However, the work on both services is still in its early stages, so it won’t be surprising to see Zoom pulling the plugs on its email and calendar service ambitions down the road. And even if Zoom’s plans do take off, the biggest challenge will be snatching some market share away from the two biggest players in the domain – Google and Microsoft. 

Microsoft's Outlook, Office 365 and Teams trifecta is another Goliath to tackle

Google’s Meet is fairly popular right now, and seamless integration across its key services such as Gmail and Calendar makes it a great option for enterprise as well as personal use. Microsoft also has a fairly robust offering in the form of Outlook, and it works well in conjunction with its Office 365 and Teams service. Taking on these well-received services from the two titans is not going to be easy for Zoom, but it will be interesting to see if Zoom’s email and calendar products can offer something truly unique and more productive that can help it stand out from its rivals. 

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Google brings Zoom video call experience on the Next Hub Max smart display

This year has been all about video calls as the world moved to a predominantly remote working culture. But aside from work, video calls have also become the key communication channel for keeping up with friends and family, since contact-based gatherings are no longer possible. Just in time for the festive season, Google is making its Nest Hub Max an even more capable tool for video calls by adding support for Zoom. Yes, Zoom video calling support is now rolling out for Nest Hub Max users, but only as part of an opt-in preview program at the moment.

“If you have a Zoom account in the U.S., U.K., Canada or Australia—whether it’s free or paid—keep an eye out for this new video calling option,” Google says in its blog post. In order to make video calls on the Nest Hub Max smart display, users will have to first link their Zoom account with the Google account working on their smart display. Plus, users will have to create the Zoom video call ID first and then have to add it to their calendar. Once that is done, all you need to host Zoom video calls on a Nest Hub Max are the magic words “Hey Google, start a Zoom call.”

But as mentioned earlier, this feature is only available via the preview channel that is part of an opt-in channel, and is different from beta-testing. Google says that Preview Program updates are of the same quality as the final version product version updates, and the only difference is that those who opt in get access to new features much before the wider release. Zoom video call support on Nest Hub Max is part of the same preview program.

If you are looking forward to testing the new Zoom video calling feature on Google’s smart display, follow these steps for opting in to the preview test phase:

  • Open the Google Home ap.
  • Select your device > Settings > Device settings > Preview Program.
  • Enable receiving email notifications using the toggle in case you haven’t already done that.
  • Top Join Program.
  • Read the on-page content and click on Ok, got it.

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Zoom unveils OnZoom platform to let users host paid online events

As part of its Zoomtopia 2020 event. Zoom has today announced a new platform called OnZoom that will allow users to create and host paid online events such as fitness classes, music concerts, comedy shows and workshops. OnZoom, which has now started to roll out as a public beta, is only available for paid Zoom users. The company says OnZoom is very much a part of its unified communications platform whose growth has skyrocketed with the onset of a global pandemic that has given a huge push to remote learning and collaboration. 

OnZoom will let users do everything from listing and selling tickets, promoting it via email and social media to actually hosting an event (or a series of paid online events). Users will be able to look up for upcoming events in a public directory and can pay for tickets online using PayPal or credit cards.

Zoom users will also be able to purchase tickets for friends and family members. Plus, there is also an option of donating directly to fundraiser events held via OnZoom for a good cause. And once a paid online event concludes, all virtual attendees will be able to rate it, mark it as their favorite and also share it with others. 

Only available to paid users, for now!

To promote OnZoom, the company has partnered with organizations such as WW (formerly Weight Watchers – promotes a healthy lifestyle), Life Rolls On (covers adaptive surf and skate events for people with disabilities) and Beautiful Destinations (which is all about travel and lifestyle inspirations). However, Zoom is not the only major name that has jumped in the paid online event domain. 

Back in August, Facebook announced that it will let small businesses and creators host paid online events, with the social media giant announcing that it won’t take a cut from the money raised by these events. Last month, Google also made its experimental Fundo platform openly available to all creators, letting them host paid personal chats with their fans, organize meet and greet events, and even start a workshop. You can check out more details about OnZoom here.

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Zoom announces a $599 touchscreen tablet to help you make video calls

Zoom really wants you to use its service to make video calls, so much so that the company has launched a giant tablet with three cameras. The device in question is manufactured by DTEN and is officially called Zoom for Home – DTEN ME. As for the price, well, you’ll have to shell out $599 for the device. The tablet is VESA compatible and features an HDMI-in as well as an Ethernet LAN (RJ45) port.

The ‘Zoom tablet’ has a 27-inch multi-touch 1080p display with a 16:9 aspect ratio, all encased in a slim form factor that is only 0.5-inch thick. It has three wide-angle cameras at the top and an 8-microphone array. Zoom claims that the panel is ultra-responsive, making it an ideal solution for whiteboarding and annotation.

The creatively named Zoom for Home – DTEN ME tablet is claimed to offer a combined 160-degree field of view and can cover a distance of 16ft. For audio, you get integrated stereo speakers, as well as acoustic audio cancellation and Automatic Gain Control (AGC) tech for noise cancellation. Feeling interested? Well, you can already pre-order it for $599, but only in the US.

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Reliance Jio launches a Zoom knock-off, JioMeet in India

India’s Reliance Jio has launched its Zoom rival, JioMeet. The telecom company silently launched its video conferencing app on Thursday night in India. The JioMeet app is already available on Google Play and Apple App Store. The Zoom knock-off features an almost lookalike home screen with an added ‘Help” button at the bottom.

The JioMeet app supports direct calls (1:1 calling) as well as hosting meetings. You can add up to 100 participants in a single meeting. The company says that its app offers enterprise-grade host controls. The new videoconferencing app is free to use and one can create unlimited meetings per day.

To signup, you need to have a phone number or email ID. The meetings support HD quality and these can be password protected as well. There’s a Zoom-like waiting room in the app too. The app supports multi-device login on up to five devices. Moreover, you can seamlessly switch between devices while on a call.

Via: Gadgets360

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Zoom disables GIPHY integration in chat citing user privacy concerns

Just when the talks regarding Facebooks’s mega GIPHY acquisition and how it would provide the social media giant with an enormous amount of user data had started to wane, the GIF sharing platform is back in the news again. Popular video conferencing solution Zoom has disabled GIPHY integration in Zoom Chat without giving any specific reason behind the move.

The vague explanation given by Zoom only says it has disabled the feature to “ensure strong privacy protection for users.” The company adds that once additional technical and security measures are put into effect, GIPHY integration in chats will be enabled again.

The change was listed in a blog post that also mentioned a few other tweaks such as an audio chime to alert the host when someone enters or leaves the Waiting Room. Moreover, in case of meetings that require registration, the host will have the option to allow the participant to join the call from multiple devices or restrict him to a single device.

Source: Zoom

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Zoom was experiencing issues, as Google Meet is getting more users

Zoom is a video conferencing app that has become popular during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this app has also had its shares of issues due to privacy concerns, and several reports say it was down this morning. This has helped other options, like Google Meet, to increase popularity.

Zoom confirmed on its Twitter page that it was having issues for a “limited subset of users” this morning. These issues included problems getting past the “Waiting Room,” audio and video problems, and more. The service set out to look for the causes of these problems and solved them soon enough.

On the other hand, we have Google Meet that has reached more than 50 million downloads. This has to be also by the need of having a more secure conferencing app, because the app became free, and you could also add the latest Zoom issues. Let’s remember that Google Meet used to be only open for GSuite users, but now anyone can access the service for free.

Source Tom’s Guide

Via Android Police

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Think twice before using Zoom again, Singapore teachers stop using it after “serious incidents”

Teachers in Singapore have been told to stop using Zoom to give classes after some children were allegedly exposed to inappropriate content

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