Instagram brings Gifts monetization to Canada

Canada is one of the six countries to get Instagram's Gifts monetization feature for creators. It joins Australia, France, Mexico, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. Instagram started testing out Gifts last year. It allows fans offer their favourite creators direct monetary support via themed virtual gifts. The gifts bought in the app use the virtual currency Stars and cost anywhere from 10 Stars to several hundred Stars.

Creators will now also get to see which fans sent gifts. When creators tap on a new heart icon next to their supporters, the user will receive a notification that the creator saw and recognized their gifts.

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Instagram makes its Reels editor easier to use

Image: Meta

Instagram Reels isn't known for having an easy-to-use editing tool. So, the latest update from the Meta-owned company is welcome. The Reels feature gets a new editor available worldwide on iOS and Android. You can pull together video clips, audio, stickers, and text into a more streamlined interface. There are also more editing tools coming with the hope of chipping away at TikTok's dominance. 

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Google Chat gets Material Design 3 makeover

Google Chat's interface gets redesigned to match the looks of Google's other productivity tools. And similar to Drive, Docs, Sheets, etc., the new look is based on the company's Material Design 3 system. The interface gets rounded buttons and a rounded search bar and blue accents all around. Some minor changes to the main message view, a new topic button, compose setup, and thread panel within direct messages and spaces.

Google Chat recently added a new feature that allowed Space Managers to create announcement-only channels, similar to what you can do in Slack.

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Latest Windows 11 preview adds Photo app's 'Gallery' view to File Explorer

Image: Microsoft

It might soon be easier to scan photos in Windows 11's File Explorer. The latest developer preview for the operating system rolls out with a new Gallery feature. You can view the Photos app's image library while browsing files and folders. This shortcut to Gallery comes with the Windows Insider Build 23435. The company is rolling out the feature gradually and won't come to all Dev Channel Insiders immediately. It is still a beta feature that may or may not get a wider release, but we're crossing our fingers that it does.

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