Google Chrome in beta can now mute videos that autoplay

The upcoming Google Chrome 64 promises to address a number of user issues, one of these is content that autoplays when you launch a site. Google plans to automatically mute videos that autoplay. You can start testing out this feature if you’re using Chrome 64 beta. Its full version will be available when the consumer version of the browser launches next month. You can access this feature in the permissions bar of the browser. But you’ll need to do this on a site-per-site basis. It is unfortunately not a one-time thing. It’ll work though for any content that is navigated under the parent domain.

One of the other new features coming to Chrome 64 include a better pop-up blocker. It’ll feature more security measures that’ll prevent any malicious auto-redirects from happening. The browser will also get HDR video playback when Windows 10 is in HDR mode. Meanwhile, on Chrome OS, there is a new “split view” feature for easier multitasking with multiple windows.

Source: The Verge

Apple Store app’s Easter egg turns your phone into a snow globe

Easter eggs are fun things developers hide into their apps to either make them more useful or just add a touch of whimsy. It’s the latter for this Easter egg hidden within the Apple Store app. The app, where you can buy Apple products (not the App Store), has a little trick that can turn your phone into a snow globe when you’re using it. Head over to the Apple Store app and type in the words “Let It Snow” in the search bar. When you do, snow will start falling from the screen. It’ll continue to do so if you remain within the app. Shake the screen and it’ll act like fake snow in a snow globe.

Source: Lifehacker

Of course, there’s a Porg-related game on Facebook

With Star Wars: The Last Jedi mania in full swing, we aren’t surprised with the amount of merch and tie-ins the movie has. One of the new ones is a Facebook game called Porg Invasion. Porgs are the adorable yet divisive puffin-like creatures from the planet Ahch-To, where Luke Skywalker exiled himself. The Facebook mini-game, which you can play within Facebook Messenger on mobile or on the News Feed on desktop, has you playing inside the Millennium Falcon with Chewbacca and BB-8 trying to stave off a porg onslaught on the iconic space craft. If you want to try it out, you can access it through Facebook Instant Games.

Source: The Verge

Google updates Project Jacquard app to have the jacket’s tag light up as well as find your phone

You might have heard of the Levi’s Commuter Trucker Jacket, the first wearable jacket that integrates Google’s Project Jacquard touch-gesture function. The accompanying app gets its first update since the jacket went on sale late in September and adds a few new useful features. One of the new ones is new light modes for the tag on the sleeve. Called Illuminate, it has three new modes. One is called Shine, which turns the tag into a flashlight; another is called Blink, which, as its name suggests, makes the light blink so you’re more visible to drivers and other people while in the dark; and last is called Strobe, which as Google describes turns the tag into a “multicolored party light.” On top of that, the jacket now comes with a Find Your Phone capability. Simply assign a gesture for that and it’ll ring your phone for up to 30 seconds at maximum volume even if it’s on silent. The app has also been updated to add support for major music services to let you control them from the jacket’s sleeve.

Source: Android Police