Apple's Cloud Chief Michael Abbott will reportedly leave the company in April

Photo: Michael Abbott

Apple's top executive in charge of its cloud initiatives is reportedly leaving the company next month, in April. Michael Abbott will be the latest in a wave of recent departures from Apple. He is the second top lieutenant to services head Eddy Cue to leave this year. Abbott is in charge of services and technologies like iCloud.com, iCloud Mail, and the new iCloud data encryption. He also runs the platform that powers services like iCloud, FaceTime, iMessage, Find My feature, and Emergency SOS on iPhones, among others.

In recent years, Abbott has hired several cloud industry leaders to improve Apple's operations, but the integration of the new talent hasn't reportedly gone smoothly as hoped. Abbott has held his role for five years. He joined the company in 2018 after serving as an investor at venture capital company Kleiner Perkins and as an executive at Microsoft, Palm, and Twitter. Jeff Robbin will take over Abbott's responsibilities. Robbin is considered one of the company's most senior engineering leaders, and he's credited with creating iTunes. He has long managed engineering for several services under Cue.

Source

Facebook increases Reels max length to 90 seconds

Image: Meta

Meta is increasing the maximum length of Facebook's Reels up to 90 seconds. This is a 30-second increase from its existing time limit. Instagram Reels already extended its limit to 90 seconds last July. But both still fall far short of TikTok's maximum length of 10 minutes. Facebook users will also soon get the option to automatically sync their clips to a song's beat. Meta calls this upcoming feature Grooves, which will use "visual beat technology" to automatically align motion to the beat of a song.

Facebook Reels users will also get an easy way to generate Reels from memories alongside using trending templates for your videos. Meta says Reels is its fastest-growing format, with Reels plays on both Facebook and Instagram more than doubling over the past year and Reels getting double the reshares in the last six months as well.

Source

OPPO Zero-Power Tag prototype won't need AirTag-style batteries

Photo: OPPO

OPPO's AirTag-like device won't need batteries like Apple's tracker. The OPPO Zero-Power Tag is the first gadget from OPPO's Zero-power Communication Technology, which it detailed in a white paper earlier this year. The tech uses RF signal harvesting and backscattering to power itself with a computer that needs minimal energy. And so, it won't need a battery to function. It can get that RF energy from things like TV and radio towers.

Click to read more ...

TikTok sets a default 60-minute daily screen time limit for teens

Photo: Obi - @pixel7propix/Unsplash

TikTok will enable a daily screen time limit for users under 18 years. (You must be at least 13 years old to use TikTok.) When young users hit the 60-minute limit, TikTok will ask them to enter a passcode to continue using the service for the day. This feature will be turned on by default, but there will be an opt-out option. It will be coming to users "in the coming weeks."

Click to read more ...