Tech in last 7 Days - Week Ending Sunday, April 12, 2020
This is a weekly column, highlighting significant/valuable tech news from the past 7 days. The aim is to share the information concisely, in an easy to understand manner.
1- GETTING FACE ID TO WORK WITH PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT (PPE)
Apparently you can train Face ID to recognize you while wearing a mask. If it works consistently, it can be very valuable for health care workers. Apple though recommends using the passcode while wearing a mask. You can read more about this at 9to5mac.
2- LOCK YOUR NETFLIX PROFILE WITH A PIN
You now have the ability to lock individual profiles on your account with a 4 digit pin.
Read How to lock or unlock profiles for instructions.
3- TO ENABLE REMOTE WORK DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC, SYNOLOGY MAKES VPN LICENSES FREE UNTIL SEP 30, 2020& THEY DO NOT EXPIRE
Synology provides networking and storage solutions/products. If you are an existing and new owner of Synology's RT1900ac, RT2600ac, and MR2200ac wireless routers, you will get VPN Plus Client VPN Access and Site-to-Site VPN licenses for free. These licenses are perpetual. Find out more here.
4- WEBCAMS BECOMING SCARCE DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC
According to market researcher NPD group, first 3 weeks of March saw sales for webcams went up by 179%, compared to desktops (40%), due to COVID-19 pandemic.
Expect to pay in the range of $60 to $120 in addition to the normal price, due to this huge demand. You can read more about this on theverge.
5. APPLE & GOOGLE BUILDING CONTACT TRACING TECHNOLOGY
Contact tracing is a valuable tool to help contain COVID-19 spread. Singapore used this tool effectively. How you enable this tool? Either by using conventional methods such as human interviewing (labour-intensive) or by using different forms of technologies. Here’s how Apple & Google, plan to enable this tool, using the following 2 step process:
STEP 1: API TECHNOLOGY (APP DOWNLOAD REQUIRED)
Build APIs (Application Programming Interfaces), that are interoperable between iOS and Android.
Think of an API as an interface, through which Apple & Google are going to make a set of functionalities/algorithms (used for contact tracing) publicly available.
Developers from Health Care Authorities, will use these APIs to build apps.
Users will need to download these apps and participate on a voluntary basis to enable the functionality.
These APIs are expected to be released in May.
STEP 2: OPERATING SYSTEM LEVEL FUNCTIONALITY
Contact Tracing functionality will be built into Android and iOS operating systems
Users will be able to enable this functionality in iOS/Android settings
It will be available via future software update.
There is no timeline on this.
KEY POINTS:
The technology is based on BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) for proximity detection
GPS location data will not be used
Cryptography technology will ensure user data privacy
It is voluntary
Read more about this on BBC. Verge also did a nice Q&A on this topic.