Technology - Google News

Apple's explanation for no Face ID on the MacBook Pro is nonsense - The Next Web
PowerToys 0.49 brings new Find My Mouse tool and modern Windows 11 UI - OnMSFT.com
Fitness app Supernatural is becoming part of Meta after Facebook touts VR fitness - The Verge

Apple's explanation for no Face ID on the MacBook Pro is nonsense - The Next Web

Posted: 29 Oct 2021 04:48 PM PDT

I told myself I wouldn't write anything else about the new 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pro's notch, but it'd help if Apple didn't keep on giving me reasons to. Okay, this is the last time, for real.

When I first saw the notch, like many, I assumed it would have Face ID. The answer, as it turns out, was 'no' — the laptop uses boring old Touch ID instead. The unnecessarily large cutout is arguably at least in part a branding decision, especially with rumors circling around that the upcoming MacBook Air will have a notch too.

Nonetheless, I'd assumed a Face ID implementation was only a matter of time, given the sheer size of the notch, and the fact that Face ID is simply the more convenient technology. But if you ask Apple, at least, the reason they opted for Touch ID was altogether different.

Joanna Stern interviewed a couple of Apple execs for her MacBook Pro review and was basically told that Touch ID is more convenient on a laptop because… your hands are already on the keyboard.

Lol what? (Apple also suggested there's no reason for a touchscreen MacBook, which is similarly silly).

As almost anyone who has used facial recognition on Windows — available on a myriad of Windows Hello equipped devices — will tell you, facial recognition is super convenient on a laptop. Heck, I'd argue it's more useful on a laptop than on a phone.

Apparently touching your finger to this little sensor is more convenient than just sitting in front of your laptop and literally doing nothing.

I prefer a fingerprint sensor on my phone as it's a one-step process; on an iPhone you still need to swipe up to access your device after unlocking it with FaceID, which never made much sense to me. Face ID also doesn't work great when your phone is lying flat on a table.

These aren't problems on a laptop, and on Windows Hello PC's with facial recognition, the device is usually already unlocked by the time I even get myself settled in front of the laptop. Besides, the first thing I usually reach for when I'm at my PC isn't the keyboard, but rather the mouse.

Even ignoring all of that, by Apple's own logic, Face ID should be at least as convenient as Touch ID since your face is already in front of the display. I know it's near Halloween and all, but I don't think there are any headless folks buying the new MacBook Pro.

I realize this is a first-world problem, but these are all nitpicky conveniences we're talking about here; for many people any kind of biometric authentication is overkill and a password is just fine. So let me help Apple out with some more realistic explanations.

The most obvious one: Face ID, in its current form, is just too big. You might think a laptop is much larger than a phone, but the display lid itself is rather thin, and you don't have much depth to work with. At the very least, Apple wouldn't be able to fit it by using the same module in the iPhone 13 Pro; iFixit showed those components are simply too bulky, so Apple would have to create a significantly smaller Face ID module to fit in the MacBook Pro.

iFixit MacBook Pro teardown showing iPhone 13 Face ID module vs the MacBook Pro lid — Credit: iFixit

Then again, the 2021 iMac doesn't have Face ID either, and that really doesn't have a reason to avoid Face ID. So that leads me to the other obvious explanation: It's a feature Apple can add in a year or two and market as a reason for upgrading.

Given all the money that likely went into redesigning the new MacBook Pro and its fancy new chips, it's also possible Apple found Face ID would be too expensive to implement right now. It could very well be that the webcam isn't up to Apple's security standards too (the selfie cam in an iPhone is 12MP vs 2MP for a 1080P camera).

One thing's for sure: any of these reasons make a whole lot more sense than the fact that your hands are "already at the keyboard." I'd be willing to bet my favorite socks Face ID will make its way to the laptop eventually — but only when Apple can make more money off of it.

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PowerToys 0.49 brings new Find My Mouse tool and modern Windows 11 UI - OnMSFT.com

Posted: 29 Oct 2021 07:02 AM PDT

Microsoft has released a new update for its PowerToys suite of tools for Windows. The version 0.49 includes a few new features and capabilities, Windows 11 inspired UI improvements, bug fixes, and more.

First of all, Microsoft has introduced a new Find My Mouse utility that helps users find the current location of their mouse pointer on the screen by pressing the left CTRL-key twice. "This is ideal for large, high-resolution displays and low-vision users, with additional features and enhancements planned for future releases," the PowerToys team explained on GitHub. It's possible for users to enable/disable this functionality in the PowerToys settings or prevent it from activating when playing games.

In addition to the Find My Mouse feature, the latest PowerToys update also brings the Video Conference Mute tool to the Stable builds. The feature has been available in preview since last year, and it enables users to mute their audio and video feeds in meetings globally with a keyboard shortcut.

Microsoft has also announced that the PowerRename tool is getting a new look that matches the design of the new Windows 11 OS. These UI improvements should make it easier for users to rename files in bulk on Windows PCs. Additionally, there are a few improvements and bug fixes for some other PowerToys utilities, including Color Picker, FancyZones, and PowerToys Awake.

As usual, new users can grab the PowerToys version 0.49 from the GitHub releases page, and those who are already using the app can check for updates by heading to the General tab. Moreover, Windows 11 users can also choose to download PowerToys from the Microsoft Store.

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Fitness app Supernatural is becoming part of Meta after Facebook touts VR fitness - The Verge

Posted: 29 Oct 2021 04:05 PM PDT

Meta has announced that the studio behind VR workout game Supernatural will be joining the company, adding to the roster of studios owned by what used to be known as Facebook's Oculus division. The company says that Within, the company behind Supernatural, will continue to work on the popular fitness app and will also help Meta's Reality Labs "enhance future hardware to support VR fitness apps."

Meta scooping up Within isn't necessarily a surprise move: it's spent the last few years acquiring tons of popular VR studios, like Lone Echo devs Ready at Dawn, the team behind Beat Saber, and others working on projects that some have called the VR versions of Fortnite and Roblox.

What is the metaverse?

It depends who you ask, but it usually refers to an array of interconnected digital spaces, sometimes in VR, sometimes experienced through a social network, and sometimes including real-time reference points to the physical world. You can read more about it here.

Given Meta's focus on its headsets as workout tools (Supernatural even got a callout in its Connect keynote on Thursday), it tracks that Zuckerberg's company would want to add a popular VR fitness game to its roster. The move, however, doesn't help with concerns that Meta is going to end up owning the entire virtual reality market.

While Supernatural is Within's flagship app, according to the company's site, it's also been the host of VR experiences, too — in 2016, the Mr. Robot VR episode (executive produced by Within founder Chris Milk) was shown on the app, and the company's website contains dozens of documentaries, music videos, and more. That streaming tech and library of content isn't a bad get either for a company trying to build a metaverse where people hang out and watch content together.

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