Essential Phone finally gets pinch-to-zoom support for YouTube

Today we get a case of better late than never with a new feature Essential has brought to the Essential PH-1. The smartphone finally supports YouTube’s pinch-to-zoom feature. Before users had to live with seeing black bars above and below 16:9 videos because the screen has the unusual 19:10 display ratio. Thankfully, the company finally listened to its users and it now supports this feature. It’s not showing up for all users yet but some commenters on Essential subreddit suggest uninstalling the app, updating it, and clearing cache to get the feature to work. Reddit user osikiri discovered the feature and says he’s using version 13.34.50 of the YouTube app and is running an Android 9 Pie device.

Source: XDA Developers

Apple’s latest acquisition suggests company is working on AR headset

Will this new acquisition benefit Apple ARKit or prepare us for an enitrely different product line?

Apple has yet to confirm or deny that it’s been developing an augmented reality headset but the newest startup it’s acquired might suggest that is in the works. Apple just bought Colorado-based Akonia Holographics, a company that develops lenses for augmented reality glasses. As usual, the company is keeping mum about what it plans to do with the company. Akonia though specializes in what it calls HoloMirror technology, which allows for the development of “thin, transparent smart glass lenses that display vibrant, full-color, wide field-of-view images.” The company also has 200 patents on holographic systems and materials.

As Reuters points out, Apple has bought smaller companies before to make use of the technologies for their devices. Perhaps this could appear in existing products—or as what’s being rumoured, it could appear in an AR-based product. Apple CEO Tim Cook has previously admitted that the company sees a future in AR. He said during a 2017 earnings call, “We are high on AR for the long run. We think there are great things for customers and a great commercial opportunity.”

YouTube competitor Facebook Watch launches globally

One year to the month since it officially launched in the US, Facebook is bringing its video-streaming service Watch to its users around the world. The service wants to make it easier for its users to find new videos to watch and keep them away from competition like Google’s YouTube. Facebook is bringing the attention to features like being able to easily discover and watch new videos that range from sports to news to entertainment. Watch will also be curated to match your interests. If you want to check out the new stuff, Watchlist section will show you recently-uploaded videos from creators you’ve chosen to follow. And like Facebook’s read later function for links, you can save videos for later viewing, too.

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Instagram boosts security features, makes applying for account verification easier

If you want to get your Instagram account verified, it’s now much easier to do so. You can start the process right from your phone. But that doesn’t guarantee your application will be approved, though. But if you want to kick start the process, just head to the Settings page and tap on Request Verification. From there you’ll need to give your account name, full name, and legal or business ID. All these information are necessary to get you a shot at being verified. It’s definitely easier for public figures, brands, or celebrities to get approved or if you meet certain requirements. But there is also an option to reapply down the road if your application gets rejected at first.

Aside from simplifying user verification, you can now also use third-party authenticator apps like Google Authenticator and DUO Mobile to enable two-factor authentication. To further boost authenticity, there is also an About This Account feature that shows you when an account was created, what country the account is located in, ads the account is running, whether the user changed usernames in the past year, and whether it shares followers with other accounts.

Source: BGR