Technology

Microsoft has started working on bringing casual games to its Microsoft Teams service. Sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans tell The Verge that the software maker has started testing games like Solitaire, Connect 4, and Wordament inside Microsoft Teams. The casual games are designed to allow colleagues to play against each other during meetings. While you won’t be playing Halo or Forza inside Teams anytime soon, Microsoft is clearly looking at games as another way to improve the meetings experience as businesses continue to balance the needs of hybrid and remote work. Microsoft has a bigger vision for games inside Teams Microsoft is only testing casual games internally from its Casual Games offering right now, and the company could choose not to roll this integration out to consumers an...

For decades, lawmakers have pushed for a comprehensive federal law protecting user data — but it has never survived the chaos of a deeply divided Congress. But on Tuesday, the Energy and Commerce Committee held its first hearing to discuss a new proposal lawmakers believe could actually cross the finish line. Called the American Data Privacy and Protection Act, the proposal marks a major step forward in congressional data privacy negotiations. For years now, any measure that would set a national standard for user data protections has fallen short of final approval due to partisan disagreements. From Republicans withholding their support for bills allowing states — like California — to roll out their own rules to Democrats demanding a private right of action, discussions failed time and tim...

Fortnite is adding yet another way to get around the battle royale island. As part of the first patch for Chapter 3: Season 3, the game is adding a grappling hook called a grapple glove. And, as we all know, a grappling hook makes everything better. Here’s the basic description: To begin swinging, shoot its grappling hook at a hard surface like a cliff, prop, or building. Each successive swing gets faster until the third swing and beyond, when you’ll be at max speed. If you miss a shot and land on the ground, you’ll have a brief window of time to shoot the grappling hook and come back swinging. You’ll have an even longer window if you slide out of a swing, so don’t be afraid to combo some slides into your swinging action. But don’t worry if the window of time runs out: after a brief cooldo...

It’s not every day when you can buy a pair of decent wireless earbuds with active noise cancellation for less than $100, which is why today’s deal on Anker’s Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro is such a standout. For a limited time, you can buy the excellent, budget-friendly earbuds at Amazon and Best Buy for just $69.99, a new record low, instead of $129.99. The earbuds sound good considering the low price, and they boast solid voice call quality. You can even adjust the balance of the noise cancellation effect. The box also comes with a variety of ear tips, allowing for a more comfortable fit, while the buds themselves offer other niceties, including a wireless charging case, an IPX4 water and sweat resistance rating, and customizable EQ settings. Read our Liberty Air 2 Pro review. Anker Soundc...

The Firefox browser, already known for its privacy protections, is about to become even more private thanks to a new cookie-restricting feature announced by Mozilla on Tuesday. The design change, labeled “total cookie protection,” aims to give enhanced protection against online tracking by limiting the ability of websites to read cookies created by third-party services. According to a blog post from Mozilla, access to any given cookie will be restricted to the website that deposited the cookie in a user’s browser, so a cookie created by one website or service will not be readable by other websites that a user visits. Mozilla’s blog post describes the new feature in terms of a separate “cookie jar” for each website, preventing trackers from linking up user behavior across multiple sites. Th...

Disney Plus is continuing its global expansion this week. Variety reports the service is now online in Greece, Turkey, Poland, and a number of other central European countries as part of a broader rollout over the last two weeks including 42 new countries and 11 territories across Europe, Africa, and West Asia. You can see the full list and local pricing here. For viewers in those countries, it means a slew of Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, and Disney content is coming your way. (Our recommendation? Get into Ms. Marvel as soon as you can… and maybe wait on Moon Knight.) For Disney, it’s another key way to grow its streaming service. Disney Plus has about 87.6 million subscribers — plus another 50.1 million who subscribe to Disney Plus Hotstar in India, which is a similar thing but not qui...

Spotify has announced its acquisition of Sonantic, an AI voice platform that replicates realistic voice from text.  Spotify has been consistently introducing new features to its platform in an effort to stand out from its competitor Apple Music. The company’s latest acquisition invests new text-to-speech capabilities across its platform. The company believes that demand for high-quality voices will continually rise over the years, marking this a long-term investment. In an official statement, Spotify’s Vice President of Personalization, Ziad Sultan says: “We’re really excited about the potential to bring Sonantic’s AI voice technology onto the Spotify platform and create new experiences for our users, this integration will enable us to engage users in a new and even more personal...

A new Google Maps feature that estimates the amount you’ll have to pay in tolls to drive a given route has started appearing in the Android and iOS apps, according to Google. Android Police reports seeing the new toll pricing in the app, though it’s not yet visible on a pair of devices we’ve tried along the same route. The toll feature was first announced by Google in April. Google says that displayed toll pricing is based on “trusted information from local tolling authorities,” and takes toll passes and time of day into account when calculating the total cost. There’s also still a toggle to “avoid tolls” when calculating routes. Google Maps has previously been able to alert you when a toll is payable overall on a journey, but not calculate what that toll might amount to. For the planner f...