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How to play music on Zoom
Love music and Zoom? Let's combine the two to play your favorite tracks during video calls
In today's virtual world, where video calls and online meetings have become the norm, adding musical flair to your digital gatherings can be a game-changer. Whether hosting a team meeting, catching up with friends, or jamming out at a virtual party, playing music on Zoom can level up the vibe. As a digital bridge connecting people from every corner of the globe, Zoom packs more features than most free video-calling apps.
Changing your Zoom background lets you add a splash of personality or remove background distractions. There are plenty of other features packed into this star among the free video calling apps, but if you're new to the service, you may want to make changing your background a priority.
Google Duo turns five, and it might even turn six before Google kills it
It's the only video calling app I use
Google Duo turns five years old today, and in that time, it's become one of the best video calling apps around despite fierce competition. So to celebrate its anniversary, let's take a look at what makes Duo so special.
Google's Pixel Drops have introduced a bunch of interesting features for Pixel smartphones, including car crash detection and automatic call screening. Another such feature is auto-framing on Google Duo, which had been (at least according to Google) exclusive to the Pixel 4. Now that's getting a little company, as Google confirms the recently-unveiled Samsung Galaxy S21 series can also pull off the same trick.
The ongoing coronavirus pandemic, and the lockdowns associated with it, have caused a surge in demand for videoconferencing tools. Zoom seems to be the leader in this space, but with the privacy issues that service has gone through, there's still demand for secure alternatives. Signal, the encrypted messaging platform, announced today that it now supports group calls on mobile.
Google Duo's captions for audio and video messages are rolling out
The day when everyone gets real-time call captioning will be a good one
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We aren't at the point yet where every Android phone is able to transcribe voice calls in real time, but what Google is doing with its video chat service Duo is a good first step: the app is now enabling captions for recorded voice and video messages.
Google Duo might be on the way out in the long-term, but right now, the developers keep adding feature after feature, with new stickers always flying in and Android TV support in the works. But one capability went MIA shortly after its initial release back in 2018: Screen sharing. After two years of absence, Google has re-announced it on Twitter, though it has yet to roll out to anyone using the service.
Zoom is coming to smart displays from Amazon, Facebook, and Google later this year
The video conferencing heyday continues
The onset of COVID-19 caused a rapid growth in demand for video conferencing apps, as school classes and office meetings everywhere went virtual. Google Meet and Google Duo added support for group video calls on smart displays earlier this summer, but now another popular contender is poised to join the club: Zoom will be available on smart displays from Google, Facebook, and Amazon later this year.
Google Duo has new rainbow-filled AR filters to celebrate LGBTQ pride
When a rainbow's on a filter, you can celebrate pride anytime!
Pride Month is over, but the rainbow arcs over yonder. As such, Google is beginning to roll out some colorful new filters to its video calling app, Duo.
Messenger Rooms video calls are now available on Facebook Portal screens
Support for voice commands in British English are also coming soon
Videoconferencing is all the rage right now and Facebook, like any other big industry name, naturally wants a bigger slice of the pie. In a bid to do that, the tech giant buckled down to make its Zoom-rival Messenger Rooms ubiquitous across its several social media platforms. Now, Facebook's much-maligned smart screens are also getting support for Rooms along with a bunch of accompanying features.
Google has been pushing people to use its Duo video calling service for years through integrations with its own dialer and messaging apps and even those respective apps from device OEMs. It has now gone as far as to push a Duo button right in its Google Phone app, right above the dialer button.
WhatsApp is rolling out Messenger Rooms integration in latest beta (APK Download)
Bringing the two Facebook-owned messaging apps closer together
Demand for video conferencing tools has skyrocketed in recent months, and Facebook has played a relatively minor role in that space despite owning two leading messaging apps. Taking steps to mend that, the social media giant introduced Messenger Rooms last month for a more casual video chat experience with small groups. After expanding the service to a worldwide audience, Facebook is now rolling out its integration in WhatsApp, starting in the newest beta.
Google has been working on implementing live filters and effects for Duo video calls over the course of the past couple of years. We've seen a few of them pop up for special holidays like Holi and Valentine's Day, but today, we finally have a bank of 13 standard fare filters and effects to embarrass ourselves with when chatting with our colleagues, friends, and loved ones.
As florists, chocolate makers, and greeting card companies alike gear up for one of the biggest sales days of the year — Valentine's Day — tech companies are preparing their own festive offerings for the sentimental celebration. This year, Google Duo is offering a Valentine's Day video effect for long-distance loves, and it's already showing up for many users.
Alongside its refreshed hardware lineup, Amazon (and Microsoft) announced back in September that Skype calling was coming to Alexa devices later in the year. Well, it's later in the year, and the new functionality is rolling out starting today. You can link your Skype account to your Alexa devices in the Alexa app.
In one of the scariest product announcements in recent years (should have done on Halloween, amirite?), Facebook unveiled its video calling devices last month. The Portal and Portal+ are now beginning to ship to anyone who was silly enough to pre-order one, and you can even go out and buy them in shops.Facebook assures us these products were "built with privacy and security in mind," but I still don't think I want a Facebook-connected eye anywhere in my home. Each to their own, though. The smaller Portal has a 10-inch screen and costs $199, while the larger, rotatable Portal+ goes for $349 — they're both Amazon Alexa-enabled.You can get buy them from Facebook directly, Amazon (online and in Amazon Books stores), or Best Buy (Online and in-store). There's even a deal that lets you save $100 when you buy two Portal devices — why buy one when you can get two? Fork it, why not buy four? Or six? One for every room in the house.Source: Facebook
It took a couple of years for Google Duo to spread its wings beyond single-device support, but now that it has, there's no stopping it. After enabling you to make video calls on multiple devices, including Android tablets, Duo is now expanding from the iPhone to the iPad as well.
After an unsuccessful first attempt at a digital personal assistant inside its Messenger app, Facebook is giving it another go. This time around, the company is focussing its efforts on speech recognition to create a product called Aloha.
After leaks and teardown revelations aplenty, WhatsApp group calls were finally formally revealed at Facebook's F8 developer conference in early May. By the end of the month, the feature had started showing up for some. Now, WhatsApp has announced that group audio and video calls are rolling out to all users.
Instagram's received a considerable update. Weeks after the announcement of Direct video calling integration and testing of a redesigned Explore, the features are now officially available. Instagram has also introduced a number of new camera effects, designed by Ariana Grande, the NBA, and Buzzfeed, among others.