As government and businesses step up measures to control the coronavirus, more and more of us are finding ourselves working from home rather than mixing it up with co-workers. But we still need to communicate, and that means conference and video calls. Yes, it’s adorable when a puppy darts into view, but it’s also distracting when there’s so much background noise that no one can understand what’s being said. One solution: Krisp is an AI-powered noise-cancellation technology that can virtually eliminate those kinds of noises. And while Krisp is a paid program, in response to the coronavirus, the developers of Krisp have introduced a free tier of service.
See it at Krisp
Ordinarily, Krisp Pro costs $3.33 per month and applies its AI-powered noise reduction filter to both incoming and outgoing audio for virtually any communication app, including Zoom, Skype, Slack, TeamSpeak and others. I tried Krisp and color me impressed — it set up easily and dramatically improved the sound of my audio, virtually eliminating music that was blasting just a few feet away as well as a horrific din of Los Angeles street noise right outside my window. Honestly, it’s remarkable what AI can do these days.
Inspired by a handful of other tech companies that have opted to help everyone through these challenging times, Krisp has rolled out a free tier that gives you up to 120 minutes of usage each week. Just install the app, and you’ll get immediate access to the free version.
And it gets better: If you’re a student, teacher, government employee or hospital worker, Krisp Pro is free to use for the next six months — that means there are no 120-minute weekly time limit restrictions. If you think you qualify for a free Krisp Pro subscription, send an email from your work or school email address to [email protected] and put “COVID-19” in the subject line. After verifying that you qualify, Krisp will give you or your organization a license for the next six months.
A sincere kudos to Krisp for this. And while cleaner conference call audio won’t cure the coronavirus, it can make the challenges of working remotely during this trying time a little bit easier. And that’s a good thing for everyone.
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Big changes are coming for the millions of workers who use G Suite, the professional version of Gmail and Google’s other productivity apps. Google says new changes rolling out starting today will “help the more than 4 million paying businesses that use G Suite work safer, smarter and more efficiently.”
Rumors of a major Gmail update have been floating around for a while, and while these new changes are primarily aimed at business customers, many of them will be coming to the free consumer version of Gmail as well.
Top of that list are security and privacy, with expiration dates, the ability to revoke some email content and SMS authentication all coming to a feature called confidential mode. That’s especially important right now, with increased awareness of data and security issues, in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica/Facebook issue.
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But, many of the new Gmail features revolve around getting you the information you need without having to click through to an individual email and open it up.
And by having Google’s AI scan your email, it can nudge you on important messages you may have missed, or restrict pop-up notifications to only the highest-priority emails.
These changes may be inspired in part by big shifts in both work and personal communication, with work teams collaborating through Slack and other chat apps, and friends and family communicating through Facebook Messenger, Kik, WhatsApp and other platforms — all taking the place of traditional email communication.
Here are some of the major ways Gmail will be changing for you in the coming weeks:
Security and confidential mode
Confidential mode adds several new features to email that allow much more control over information after it leaves your inbox. Email can be sent with an expiration date (kind of like a Snapchat message), and there are more options for revoking messages after they’re sent. A form of two-factor authentication can be required for some individual emails, which Google says will “protect data even if a recipient’s email account has been hijacked.”
Google
Messages can be further protected through IRM, or information rights management. That means an email can be tagged to not allow it to be forwarded, downloaded or even printed. There’s probably no solution for someone screen-capturing an email, but this could cut down on accidental (or deliberate) forwarding of confidential information.
Finally, Google says security warnings for potentially risky email will be bigger, bolder and simpler, making it more likely you’ll delete or archive potentially dangerous messages.
Click less with new inbox tools
The web version of Gmail, even in its professional G Suite form, involves a lot of clicking into individual messages, which take your entire message window, then backing out to your inbox. Some new tools and features coming to Gmail make it easier to do things right from the inbox view, saving countless clicks in the process.
Google
For example, users will now be able to hover over an email subject line to RSVP to an invite, archive a message or set a snooze alarm. Attachments can also be viewed without opening an entire email thread.
Side-panel integration of other apps, like Google Calendar or third-party apps, is coming as well, which means you won’t necessarily have to have those tools open in separate tabs. Tasks, another current Google tool, is getting a new design both on the web and in its Android/iOS apps, with the ability to drag an email into the Tasks window and create an automatic to-do list.
AI for email
Smart Reply has changed the way people use Gmail, with tons of context-sensitive message options like “Got it” or “I’m busy” to be sent with a single tap. Google says more than 10 percent of Gmail replies on mobile are Smart Replies, and now the technology is coming to the web-based version of Gmail.
Making sure you see the right emails amid all the clutter is important, especially for business users. (I’ve struggled with email overload for years, at times topping 100,000 unread messages.) A new Nudging feature will remind you to read and reply to emails the AI deems important, you’ll be able to “snooze” some messages, hiding them until a predetermined time, and a new setting for high-priority notifications will reduce pop-up notices to only the most important messages.
To start clearing out some of that inbox clutter, Gmail will now recommend mailing lists to unsubscribe from, based on how often you get these mass mailings versus how often you actually read them.
Google
Google Docs already offers a robust offline mode so you can work away from Wi-Fi. Now Gmail is adding more offline support, so users can read, write and reply to emails offline. You can even search through up to 90 days of messages, thanks to local caching.
The first Gmail users getting access to these new features are G Suite customers who sign up for the G Suite Early Adopter Program via the Admin panel. Personal Gmail users will be able to try the new features as well, by going to Settings and looking for “Try the new Gmail.”
Not all these features will be available on Day 1, with some launching immediately, others rolling out “in the coming weeks,” according to Google.
If I ever get too lazy to roll my own dice, it’s truly time to put me out to pasture.
That’s what I thought when I was first approached about reviewing a prototype pair of “Boogie Dice,” six-sided cubes now on Kickstarter that roll themselves in response to noise. Then I got the dice and started playing around with them.
While the dice can replace any six-siders in games you may already own, the real benefit of Boogie Dice is that specific games will be made for them. You change the way the dice bounce and roll, and how long they stay lit, with sounds such as clapping your hands, snapping your fingers or even shouting or banging on a table.
Using an accompanying app, different behaviors can be programmed into the dice, such as to getting them to “stop listening” during random periods of time.
My prototype pack included a look at the cards created for the first game, Bots Battleground. It looks promising, but I only had the prototype and couldn’t actually play since the game requires a specially designed die.
Knowing no one there but feeling bold, I decided to break out the dice one evening after dinner. Lots of fellow nerds gathered round and instantly had a blast yelling, clapping and hitting the table to get the dice to roll. We never got to playing a specific game with them, but we didn’t really need to. It turns out watching self-rolling dice can be entertainment enough.
I’ll be taking the dice on the road again this weekend for a reunion with some high school buddies, and I’m sure we’ll be devising a drinking game or two with them.
Inside each die is a vibration motor, a tiny microphone and a microprocessor. The dice come with a charging station that lets you juice them through small holes in the side of the dice. There’s also a plastic “arena” that attaches to the charging station to keep the dice from bouncing themselves off your table.
Drool-worthy dice for discerning rollers (pictures)
The Boogie Dice campaign is charging along nicely, having raised almost twice its initial goal of $50,000. You can get one die of your choice — including the glow-in-the-dark version — for $27 (about £17, AU$37); two will cost you $38 (about £25, AU$52). Alternatively, you can get the Bots Battleground game with its specially designed die for $45 (about £29, AU$62). Rewards get more complicated and, of course more expensive, after that.
If the campaign hits $200,000, the makers say they’ll include a 20-sided dice with all orders that include the stretch goals. Dice are expected to ship in March 2016.
Unlike other crowdfunding campaigns I’ve covered, I got to use actual prototypes of this product. It’s smart to be cautious when choosing whether to support a crowdfunding campaign, but you might feel more confident giving this one a roll knowing that a working version of the dice has already been manufactured.
