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Technology
Google this morning announced the arrival of its first &feature drop.& The new offering will continue the companyregular feature enhancements, now arriving every month like clockwork. This first one brings a whole bunch of upgrades, including a few already noted by some eagle eye views.
The call screen update is probably the biggest of the bunch. This one drops for Pixel 4 users in the U.S. to start, giving users a screen for unknown callers, filtering out robocalls in the process. When itnot spam, users will get a notification shortly after, featuring a transcript of the message. Google notes that all of that info is kept private to the the user, per the below gif.
The Photos app gets a handy update, making it possible to add a background faux-bokeh blur to portrait photos… for the those times you forget to turn on the feature while shooting.
The Pixel 4 gets some key Duo improvements, as well, including auto framing, which keeps one or two people centered. The feature appears to look similar to the more sophisticated versions found on the Nest Home Max (and FacebookPortal before it), zooming in and out to get people in frame.
Duo calls on the Pixel 2-4 also to get a bokeh effect to blur out the background during calls, along with Smooth Display, which should offer better playback on spotty connections.
Also of note is the recently announced arrival of the extremely handy Recorder app on older Pixel models, along with the addition of Live Caption for the Pixel 3 and 3a. Users in the U.K., Canada, Ireland, Singapore and Australia, meanwhile, will be getting the updated version of Google Assistant soon, as well.
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Read more: Google’s Pixels get a ‘feature drop’ with call screen and camera enhancements
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Electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft maker Volocotper has received a Design Organization Approval (DOA) from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). This is basically a recognition by the EU that the processes Volocopter has in place in developing and building its aircraft are of a high enough standard that it can expedite the process of deploying its eVTOLs for commercial use.
Thata big advantage for Volocopter as it moves forward with its commercialization plans. The German company announced plans this year to produce a cargo version of its vehicle designed for hauling goods, and also revealed it&ll be doing a pilot of that vehicle in partnership with John Deere focused on testing its use in agriculture. Meanwhile, italso moving ahead with its plans for an &air taxi& version thatmeant to transport people in urban environments.
Volocopter has flown its personal transport with passengers on board in Singapore and Stuttgart so far, in tests designed to help demonstrate its feasibility ahead of a true commercial launch. The company announced a €50 million (around $55 million USD) funding round earlier this year, and it hopes to launch its service for the public in around two to three years& time.
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Read more: Volocopter awarded key designation by European aviation safety regulator
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Netflix and Apple TV+ have good news to report following this morningrelease of the Golden Globe nominations. Netflix landed on top with 34 nominations across film and TV, while Apple TV+ earned its first nods only weeks after the servicelaunch.
Despite lukewarm reviews from critics, Apple TV+ received multiple Golden Globe nominations for its flagship series &The Morning Show,& starring Jennifer Aniston, Reese Whitherspoon, and Steve Carell. The show was nominated for best drama series, and its two female stars, Aniston and Whitherspoon, were both nominated for lead actress in a drama series.
Apple TV+ launched on November 1 with only a handful of shows, including fan-favorite &Dickinson,& space race drama &For All Mankind& and dystopian drama &See,& among others. However, &The Morning Show& which deals with the aftermath of a sexual misconduct scandal in the world of morning TV, is easily the best Apple TV+ series thanks to its star power. Even reviewers who dinged the show for its sometimes overwrought dialogadmitted that Jennifer Anistonperformance has been fantastic.
Following the launch of Apple TV+, many viewers found themselves at odds with the critics& take, as they were actually enjoying many of the serviceshows. &The Morning Show& executive producers, Mimi Leder and Kerry Ehrin, later said they believed all the bad reviews were aimed more at Apple than at the shows themselves.
The nominations are Applefirst for the Golden Globes, though the company had dabbled in TV before the streaming servicelaunch, with shows like &Carpool Karaoke& and &Planet of the Apps.& Neither of those seemed to be award show-worthy series, but the former did get (undeserved) Emmy attention in the variety special category.
While Apple TV+ was having a breakout moment, Netflix was having an even bigger year.
Netflix this year landed 34 nominations across film and TV, including six for Noah Baumachdrama &Marriage Story,& five for Martin Scorsese&The Irishman& and four each for its original series &The Crown& and &Unbelievable.& Netflix&The Kominsky Method& and &The Politician& were also nominated for best TV series, musical or comedy, and its film &The Two Popes& was nominated for best motion picture.
The nods to &Marriage Story& included best picture, actor, actress and screenplay, while &The Irishman& snagged nominations for best director, best-supporting actors (Joe Pesci and Al Pacino) and best screenplay.
In total, Netflix led all programmers with 17 Golden Globe TV nominations to HBO15.
HBO&Chernobyl,& &Barry,& &Succession& and &Big Little Lies& also earned nods, as did Amazon&Fleabag.&
Netflix and HBO were followed by Hulu (5), Prime Video (5) and Apple TV+ (3). Outside digital, FX scored four TV noms, followed by Showtime (3), BBC America (2) and USA Network (1).
On the film side, Netflix landed 17 nominations, more than double the next nearest competitor Sony Pictures Releasing (8). Amazon Studios also scored three.
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Read more: Apple TV+ picks up first Golden Globe nominations, while Netflix leads across film and TV
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Although the Pixel 4 and 4 XL only launched a little over a month ago, Google has today announced a number of new features are coming to the Android flagships, with “the first Pixel feature drop” of many set to roll out this month.
The new update will arrive on Pixel 4 handsets in the coming weeks and includes three main features: the ability to
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Read more: First Google Pixel 4 ‘feature drop’ adds cavalcade of new capabilities
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While the streaming service is no longer eligible to compete at the Cannes Film Festival, Netflix has picked up a staggering 34 nominations for next year's Golden Globes ceremony across both film and television categories.
In the 'Best Motion Picture – Drama' category, three out of the five spots have been nabbed by Netflix's The Irishman, Marriage
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Read more: Netflix looks set to dominate 2020 Golden Globes with 34 nominations
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2020 is shaping up to be a very busy year for Canon: we already know that the company's latest professional sports shooter – the EOS 1D X Mark III – is due some time early next year, but we're also hearing that an ultra-high-resolution EOS Rs could be announced in February next year.
If the latest report from Canon Rumors has any truth to it, then
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Read more: Canon EOS R range set for 2020 refresh, sources suggest
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