Google Meet prepares to add live caption support for French, German, Spanish, and Portuguese

Google introduced a new accessibility feature called Live Captions with Android 10. The feature essentially transcribed speech in any media playing on your device with a single tap, making it easier for the hearing impaired to watch videos, podcasts, read audio messages, and more. With the launch of the Google Pixel 4a earlier this year, Google introduced Live Caption support in phone calls, and this new functionality is now also available on older Pixel devices. Along with media and phone calls, Live Caption also works on apps like Google Meet. However, the app currently supports live video captions in English only. But an APK teardown of Google Meet reveals that the app may soon support Live Captions in more languages.

An APK teardown can often predict features that may arrive in a future update of an application, but it is possible that any of the features we mention here may not make it in a future release. This is because these features are currently unimplemented in the live build and may be pulled at any time by the developers in a future build.

A teardown of the latest version of Google Meet has revealed new strings of code, which suggest that the company is working on adding Live Caption support for French, German, Spanish, and Portuguese to the app.

<string name="conference_captions_ftu_dialog_got_it">Got it</string>
<string name="conference_captions_ftu_dialog_settings">Settings</string>
<string name="conference_captions_ftu_message">Your captions language is set to &lt;b>{current_captions_language}&lt;/b>. You can change this in &lt;b>Settings&lt;/b>.</string>
<string name="conference_captions_ftu_title">Captions are now in more languages</string>
<string name="conference_captions_language_picker_dialog_cancel">Cancel</string>
<string name="conference_captions_language_picker_dialog_save">Save</string>
<string name="conference_captions_language_picker_message">Select the language people will use in your meetings. Captions will be shown in that language for all your meetings on this device.</string>
<string name="conference_captions_language_english">English</string>
<string name="conference_captions_language_french">French</string>
<string name="conference_captions_language_german">German</string>
<string name="conference_captions_language_mexico_spanish">Spanish (Mexico)</string>
<string name="conference_captions_language_portuguese">Portuguese</string>
<string name="conference_captions_language_spain_spanish">Spanish (Spain)</string>

As you can see in the strings above, Google Meet will soon present users with a new option in the app settings to help them select a different language for Live Captions. Once the feature rolls out, the app will alert users of this new functionality with a message that states: “Captions are now in more languages.” Users will then be able to head over to the app settings and select a different language for captions. The description for this new setting reads as follows: “Select the language people will use in your meetings. Captions will be shown in that language for all your meetings on this device.”

The code further reveals that the new Live Caption language settings will include support for four languages, including French, German, Spanish (Mexico/Spain), and Portuguese. As of now, the additional language support isn’t live for users in the latest version of Google Meet. We’ll update this post as soon as it rolls out with a future update.

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Thanks to PNF Software for providing us a license to use JEB Decompiler, a professional-grade reverse engineering tool for Android applications.

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HMD Global launches Nokia 5.4 with an HD+ hole-punch display, Snapdragon 662, 48MP cameras for 189 euros

It has already been four years since Nokia re-entered the smartphone market after their Microsoft-sponsored decline. HMD Global, the Finnish company that manages the Nokia brand, now has a diverse lineup of smartphones. They announced the mid-ranger Nokia 5.3 in March 2020 and even though the launch in other markets including India was delayed due to COVID-19, HMD is now back to launching more devices. They announced the Nokia C1 Plus for Europe yesterday and are now introducing the Nokia 5.4, flagging off their “x.4” lineup for 2021.

The Nokia 5.4 brings many visible changes over the Nokia 5.3. Most evidently, you see a hole-punch display now on the front. Meanwhile, the design on the back hasn’t changed significantly, but HMD Global is offering the smartphone two new colors inspired by the Nordic sky — a bluish Polar Night and a purplish Dusk.

The camera array on the Nokia 5.4’s backs appears unchanged in terms of design but the primary camera has been upgraded from a 13MP sensor to a 48MP sensor. The hole-punch on the display is utilized for a 16MP selfie camera. The smartphone features a variety of new camera features such as a 24fps cinematic video mode with a 21:9 aspect ratio, 60fps recording on Full HD, EIS, and OZO spatial audio recording.

The Nokia 5.4 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 mobile platform and comes with 4GB or 6GB of RAM. In terms of storage, the smartphone offers 64GB and 128GB options along with an expansion slot for microSD cards up to 512GB. The battery inside the Nokia 5.4 is rated at 4000mAh and the phone supports charging at 10W.

In terms of software, the Nokia 5.4 runs on Android 10 out-of-the-box. It is part of Google’s Android One program and is guaranteed to get at least two platform updates alongside security updates for a total of three years.

Price and Availability

Nokia 5.4 will be available in Europe starting for a price of 189 euros (~$230) for the 4GB/64GB model. It will be available in other markets including India, Africa, the Middle East, and the Americas soon.

Nokia 5.4 Specifications

Specification	Nokia 5.4
Dimensions & Weight	TBA
Display	6.39-inch (720 x 1600 pixels) HD+ 20:9 aspect ratio
SoC	Octa-Core Snapdragon 662 11nm 4 x 2GHz Kryo 260 + 4 x 1.8GHz Kryo 260 Adreno 610 GPU
RAM & Storage	4GB / 6GB RAM 64GB/128GB storage expandable memory up to 512GB
Battery & Charging	4,000mAh 10W charging
Rear Camera	Primary: 48MP rear camera with f/1.8 aperture Secondary: 5MP wide-angle camera 2MP depth sensor 2MP macro sensor Video: up to 4K @ 30 fps
Front Camera	16MP front-facing camera
Ports	USB Type-C
Security	Capacitive rear fingerprint scanner Face unlock
Connectivity	Dual 4G VoLTE WiFi 802.11 ac (2.4GHz + 5GHz), Wi-Fi 6 ready Bluetooth 5.1 GPS + GLONASS + NavIC USB Type-C
Android Version	Android 10 2 years of Android OS upgrades 3 years of Android security patch updates

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Microsoft Edge can now sync tabs and history across Android and Windows

If you’ve been using the Microsoft Edge browser on Windows and your Android device, then there’s good news. Microsoft is finally introducing the ability to sync tabs across the mobile version and the Windows version of the browser. The new feature, however, is only rolling out in beta and also includes an option that lets you sync your history across the different versions of the browser.

According to Windows Central, the feature was spotted by a user that had Edge Beta with version 45.11.24.5118. As per the shared screenshots, the user already got the update on December 11. This essentially means that the new features should soon roll out for all in the coming weeks.

Image credits: Windows Central

To use this feature (once it is rolled out to you) all you need to do is enable History and Open Tabs sync in Edge. To do so, open the browser on your Android device and head over to Settings. Tap on your email address and then tap on Sync. You should see options for Open Tabs and History, which you need to check. Once you’ve done that, restart your browser and wait for the pages to sync.

Edge currently allows you to sync various content on the browser including form data, password, favorites, and collections. By adding the option to sync your history makes it seamless to open a particular website that you viewed on a certain device and then quickly open it on the other. The Edge browser already has a feature that allows you to send open websites from your mobile to your PC, but syncing tabs make it easier to sync multiple pages across devices rather than opening them one by one. Additionally, the report also points out that the settings page that shows options for syncing tabs, favorites, and other content also includes a checkbox for syncing payments, although it is not available at the moment. This means that Microsoft is also working on introducing the ability to sync your payment options across devices through Edge. This would be a nice touch, certainly after the Tab Group Collapse and Auto Create features.

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Google Home Max discontinued as last available units sell out

Google’s larger-than-life Home Max is being retired, the company confirmed on Monday. After three years on the market — its anniversary was December 11 — Google said the last remaining units in its store have been sold, with no plans to manufacture new stock. It’s the end of an era for Google’s monstrous HiFi speaker.

Released in 2017 for $399, the Google Home Max was on the higher end of the audio spectrum by Google standards. It weighed in at nearly 12 pounds and featured stereo speakers (with two tweeters and subwoofers), dwarfing Google’s other smart speakers at the time. It also included a switch to disable the microphones, a USB Type-C port and a 3.5mm input jack. Like other Google Home speakers, it featured a mesh shell with a distinct Google design.

As far as smart speakers went, the Home Max had a large sound to match its size. Set it up in a dual-speaker stereo configuration and it was positively deafening — in a good way. The smart speaker also offered the benefits of a Smart Sound feature, which allowed the device to tune itself to the room it was placed in. Google Assistant was also onboard, so you could ask it questions, control your smart home, and more.

Notably, the death of the Home Max means this is the last of Google’s “Home” branded products. The 7-inch Nest Hub was originally launched as the Home Hub, but the name was ultimately changed, and you can still buy the device directly from Google. (I have one in my home right now and, you know what, I still call it Home Hub.”

Home Max owners shouldn’t notice any change in their service, according to Google. “We’ll continue to offer software updates and security fixes to Google Home Max devices,” Google said.

The writing was on the wall for the death of the Home Max. Over Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the large speaker was on sale for as much as 50% off in some places signaling Google wanted to get rid of remaining stock. And that’s exactly what has happened. There’s no word if Google plans to release an equally behemoth speaker, although the search giant did just introduce the Nest Audio. You can buy two for $200, which is half the Home Max’s original asking price.

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Amazon just launched a Live Translation feature for Echo devices

Amazon has announced Alexa now supports a Live Translation feature, allowing users to communicate with each other even if they don’t speak the same language. It’s like having your own personal translator, with Alexa translating both sides of the conversation.

With Live Translation, users can ask Alexa to translate English, Spanish, German, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese and Hindi. Amazon said the feature is supported on Echo devices with locale set to English U.S.

“The Live Translation feature leverages several existing Amazon systems, including Alexa’s automatic-speech-recognition (ASR) system, Amazon Translate, and Alexa’s text-to-speech system, with the overall architecture and machine learning models designed and optimized for conversational-speech translation,” Amazon said in a blog post.

What’s cool is if you own an Echo Show device, you can see the Live Translation feature on the display, so you can easily follow along. Imagine using Alexa’s new skill with someone who’s visiting from abroad. It opens up a lot of possibilities, and allows more people than ever to easily communicate.

“Like most ASR systems, the ones we use for live translation include both an acoustic model and a language model,” Amazon said. “The acoustic model converts audio into phonemes, the smallest units of speech; the language model encodes the probabilities of particular strings of words, which helps the ASR system decide between alternative interpretations of the same sequence of phonemes.”

To provide users with an experience that feels natural, Amazon said it adapted to conversational speech by modifying Alexa’s “end-pointer,” which determines when a person has finished speaking. Alexa can already identify pauses in the middle and end of sentences; the end-pointer was modified to tolerate longer pauses for the Live Translation feature.

For those keeping track, Google offers something similar called Interpreter Mode, which has been available for a while now. It’s unclear how the two services compare, but it’s nice to have more options. You might be doing less traveling this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but if you have something planned for next year, you should have no problem communicating when you get there.

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Signal adds encrypted group calls to keep your conversations secure

Signal on Monday announced the launch of group calls which, like everything else on the platform, is end-to-end encrypted. The new feature, which builds on other group chat functionality introduced in October, is rolling out to to Signal on Android and iOS.

Starting a group call in Signal is easy. Now, when you open a group chat, you’ll see a video call button at the top. Once you start a call, the group will receive a notification saying that a call has started. That’s essentially how it works on every messaging app that supports group calls.

“Signal Group Calls are one of many features that we have designed with Signal Private Groups as a foundation, using our RingRTC library for handling frame encryption and the logic around setting up and joining calls,” the company wrote in a blog post.

According to Signal, group calls are only supported in the new style groups. However, legacy groups will be automatically updated to new groups in the coming weeks. Back when the new group features were released, Signal added mentions, admins, and group permissions.

The company said group calls are currently limited to five participants, but the company is hoping to expand that number soon. That’s quite limiting if you have a large group of friends or family you want to chat with, and is far fewer than what Google Meet and Zoom accommodates. These services also offer end-to-end encryption.

If you’re an existing Signal user, the addition of group calls makes the service that much better. It may not serve as a mainstream threat to Google Meet or Zoom, but the platform has many other features that make it a great app for communication — and everything is end-to-end encrypted, so there’s the added benefit of security.

Signal’s free group calling features are available on Android and iOS beginning today.

Signal Private Messenger (Free, Google Play) →

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Xbox Series X and Series S Restocks: When, where, and how to buy Microsoft’s new gaming console

It’s time for a new gaming console generation, so you know what that means… time to hopelessly try to get a new console! Like most new generational launches, the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S is difficult to find, and many are left waiting for seconds-long Xbox Series X and S restocks. It’s a frustrating situation for sure, and while we can’t offer you a surefire way to get an Xbox Series X or Series S, we can help by gathering everything you need to know in one place. Check out the below and happy hunting!

By the way, we also have a restock guide for the PlayStation 5!

When and where will the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S be restocked?

While we believe the information below is accurate, it’s important to note that sometimes restocks don’t happen as planned. Restocks may go up late, websites may break, or retailers may just change their minds. This information is to help you plan for possible restocks.

Stock for the new Xbox series of systems seems to be doing a bit better than the PlayStation 5, but it’s still difficult to grab one. A Microsoft spokesperson even told CNET that stock will be limited until April 2021.

Thankfully, Best Buy is coming to save the holiday, sort of. They announced on Twitter that there will be Xbox Series console stock on December 15 at 8 AM CT. This restock will be handled a little differently than orders in the past, with the stock only being able to be ordered online, but also only being available via curbside pickup. This appears to be an effort to stop bot orders from going through, as curbside pickup may be a deterrent for some resellers. However, that also means the Xbox Series X or S needs to be in stock at your store in order to purchase one.

Amazon has occasionally been dropping stock of the new consoles, but it’s often without warning. You can check the store page occasionally, but it’s often best that you follow Twitter accounts or bots that provide minute-to-minute updates on the Xbox Series consoles for grabbing one on.

If you really need an Xbox Series X or S before Christmas, you can pick one up for an inflated price at StockX. Xbox prices seem to be less inflated than the PlayStation 5, at least! Also, StockX is a bit safer at the moment for buying a reseller console. eBay is unfortunately full of misleading listings and flat out scams. If you’re going this route, stick with StockX!

General advice for restocks

Trying to get your hands on something with limited stock is really, really stressful. Make sure to give yourself the best chance you can by following the advice below!

• Make sure you have an account at the store, and all personal information is updated. Restocks of popular items like the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S put huge strains on websites. On top of that, when it comes to items like these, retailers will only allow you to hold it in your cart for a few minutes. Don’t waste your chance trying to update your address or payment information!
• Start refreshing the page early. Often, retailers won’t put stock up at EXACTLY the moment they say. It may be a few minutes early or late. Get to the store page of the item you want before the restock time. You might get lucky!
• Use Ctrl+F5, not just F5. This gives you a hard refresh, that doesn’t pull store information from the cache. So, you won’t get outdated information and will be able to see the “Buy” button as soon as possible!
• It’s usually better to be on the computer, rather than your phone. While that is not always the case, mobile websites aren’t always optimized for fast refreshing. Or optimized for mobile viewing at all, sometimes. However, sometimes you can have better luck on a mobile app than a browser site. It’s not very often, though, so it’s best to start trying with your computer browser, first.

Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S Sstore Links

Don’t waste time and effort searching for store links when going for an Xbox Series X restock. We’ve gathered all the potential US retailers and the store pages you need below!

Xbox Series X links, online-only:

• Amazon
• Best Buy
• Lenovo
• Walmart
• Target
• Newegg
• StockX

Xbox Series X links, in-store only:

• Gamestop

Xbox Series X links, membership required:

• Costco (bundle)
• Sam’s Club (bundle)
• Gamefly (bundle)

Xbox Series S links, online-only:

• Amazon
• Best Buy
• Walmart
• Target
• Newegg
• StockX

Xbox Series S links, in-store only:

• Gamestop

Xbox Series S links, membership required:

• Costco (bundle)
• Sam’s Club

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