Showing posts with label Future tech. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Future tech. Show all posts
The global tech industry is being rattled by the virus as conferences are canceled and Apple and Microsoft warn investors.
The novel coronavirus  continues to wreak havoc in the global technology industry. Many companies have shut factories and banned business-related travel and major industry events like Facebook's F8, the Geneva Motor Show, Google I/O and Mobile World Congress continue to be called off because of the outbreak.
COVID-19 was discovered in the Wuhan region of China's Hubei province late last year and has symptoms similar to those of pneumonia. It was first reported to the World Health Organization on Dec. 31, with Chinese scientists linking the disease to a family of viruses that includes SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome). The disease has killed more than 3,200 people, and more than 94,000 people have been infected in more than 60 countries.

Facebook

  • Canceled its F8 developer conference, the company's biggest event of the year at which CEO Mark Zuckerberg updates the world on Facebook's developments and challenges; will hold local gatherings for developers and online events instead.
  • Curtailed employee travel to China.
  • Canceled a marketing summit scheduled for early March, which was expected to draw 4,000 people.

  • Apple

    • Said it will miss its quarterly revenue guidance because of the effects of the coronavirus.
    • Temporarily shuttered all of its 42 stores in mainland China, one of its biggest and most important markets; closed its corporate offices and contact centers in China.
    • Has been forced to seek alternative sources for parts after suppliers in Wuhan closed because of the outbreak in that city.

    • Google

      • Temporarily closing all its offices in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
      • Restricted business travel to China and Hong Kong.
      • Told employees with immediate family members returning from China to work from home for at least 14 days.

      • Microsoft

        • Warned investors that revenue in the business segment that includes its Windows operating system and Surface devices would likely miss earlier forecasts.

        • Microsoft

          • Warned investors that revenue in the business segment that includes its Windows operating system and Surface devices would likely miss earlier forecasts.

          • Uber

            • Temporarily suspended roughly 240 user accounts in Mexico to prevent the spread of coronavirus after those users had come in contact with two drivers possibly exposed to the virus.

"Whats App Dark Mode Now Rolling Out to All Android, iPhone Users":

Whats App Dark mode is finally official for both Android and iPhone devices, nearly a year after testing its presence in beta. Unlike offering a pure black and white colour scheme, the Facebook-owned company has designed a dark grey background along with elements in an off-white colour to cut down the glare and improve contrast and readability. Users on Android 10 and iOS 13 will be able to experience Whats App Dark mode by enabling the dark mode from the system settings of their devices. However, users on older Android and iOS versions will be required to manually enable dark mode by going through the theme preferences of the Whats App app.
The Dark mode on Whats App is aimed to minimize eye fatigue and "use colours that are closer to the system defaults on iPhone and Android respectively" -- instead of showing simply pure black and white colour tones.
Whats App has been working on the Dark mode for quite some time. If we look at past reports, the feature has been in the works at least since March last year -- months before the official debut of iOS 13 that brought a system-wide dark mode to iPhone and iPod touch models. Some recent beta updates also suggested the latest experience. Moreover, Whats App recently updated its profile photos across all its social media channels to tease the arrival of the highly anticipated change.
The Whats App team focussed on readability of content and information hierarchy while working on the new update, as elaborated in a blog post. The key objective that the company wanted to achieve was to help users focus their attention on each screen on Whats App when using the Dark mode. It was gained by using colour and other design elements in line with the Dark mode.
To give a glimpse at how the Dark mode works and how to use it in your daily schedule, the Whats App team has created a video titled “Hello Darkness” that features a soundtrack by previously-unreleased version of The Sound of Silence by American musician Paul Simon.
Whats App has been working on the Dark mode for quite some time. If we look at past reports, the feature has been in the works at least since March last year -- months before the official debut of iOS 13 that brought a system-wide dark mode to iPhone and iPod touch models. Some recent beta updates also suggested the latest experience. Moreover, Whats App recently updated its profile photos across all its social media channels to tease the arrival of the highly anticipated change.
The Whats App team focussed on readability of content and information hierarchy while working on the new update, as elaborated in a blog post. The key objective that the company wanted to achieve was to help users focus their attention on each screen on WhatsApp when using the Dark mode. It was gained by using colour and other design elements in line with the Dark mode.
Whats App users on Android 10 and iOS 13 will be able use the newly added dark mode by switching to the system-wide dark mode from the device settings. On Android 9 Pie and earlier versions, the new experience will be enabled by going to Whats App Settings > Chats > Theme > Dark. It is, however, worth pointing out that the new experience won't be provided to iPhone users on an iOS version prior to iOS 13.
That being said, the dark mode on Whats App is rolling out to all eligible users in the coming days through the latest version of Whats App.
Moreover, the presence of the Dark mode on Whats App would help enhance the usage of the app that has over two billion users worldwide. The new mode would let users access Whats App more often than before -- while in bed or sitting in a room that has dim lights. This is in contrast to the digital detox initiatives that tech companies have been taking of late to reduce screen time of users help them improve their social interaction in the physical World.