Tag: easier
Microsoft makes it easier to use pictures from your Android phone in Word or PowerPoint
![A screenshot showing pictures in the Phone Link app that you can insert in Word or PowerPoint](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/n-lqbdhXONa1wC903LNmb2S25yY=/0x15:1536x1039/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71572473/microsoft_insert_image_phone_grid.0.png)
Microsoft’s rolling out a feature to Office Insiders that lets you insert images from your Android smartphones directly into a web-based Word or PowerPoint file. While Microsoft already offers ways to transfer content between Windows PCs and Android devices via the Phone Link app Microsoft revamped back in March, this marks the first time it’s building the functionality into one of its apps.
To get started, open a web-based Word or PowerPoint document, and then hit Insert > Pictures > Mobile Device. If you haven’t yet linked your Android device to your PC, you’ll have to take the extra steps to do so.
This involves…
YouTube Is Making It Easier to Tell the Difference Between Real Doctors and Quacks
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In its latest effort to limit health misinformation, YouTube is trying to make it easier for users to identify and differentiate reliable, factual videos made by certified healthcare professionals from those made by wellness gurus and their ilk. Starting today, the platform will let doctors and nurses apply for…
Twitch hopes its rewritten community policies are easier to understand
Twitch is continuing its ongoing safety reforms with a simple but potentially useful move: writing its policies in plain language. The company has rewritten its Community Guidelines to provide what it believes is a clearer structure with simpler wording, more context and practical examples. This includes new top-level categories (such as “Civility & Respect” and “Sensitive Content”) and more logical category groupings, such as a “Youth Safety” section that covers everything related to users under 18. Some violations now have dedicated categories, such as “Sexual Harassment” and “Prohibited Games.”
The livestreaming service emphasizes that the guidelines themselves haven’t changed. This is an effort to make the rules more usable. In theory, at least, you’ll see fewer inadvertent violations and more people reporting misbehavior. Twitch pointed to past revisions as an example of what could happen. When it enacted clearer rules for hate and harassment at the start of 2021, it saw both a 920 percent year-over-year surge in enforcement as well as a 511 percent jump in valid user reports.
The rewrite is an acknowledgment that Twitch’s lack of clarity has sometimes led to very real problems for creators. The service added a “Hot Tubs” category last year in part because its previous approach (lumping these streamers into the “Just Chatting” section) led to ambiguity for both users and advertisers concerned broadcasters were flouting the rules. Twitch also revised the language for its sexual content policy, and in June streamlined its approach to mentions of self-harm.
Twitch says it will continue refining the policies themselves, including a “more comprehensive” revision of its sexual content material. The clarification isn’t going to satisfy users concerned about the effectiveness of the guidelines. It may result in fewer accusations of unfair bans and demonetization, though, and might make it easier for Twitch to expand policies over time.
PayPal adds passkey support in the US for easier logins and check outs
PayPal has started rolling out passkeys for users in the US, on the same day Apple is bringing the technology to its computers and tablets with macOS Ventura and iPadOS16. That means you’ll be able to log into your PayPal account without having to type in your credentials, which in turn makes its quicker to check out your online shopping carts. PayPal says the option will first be available to users with iPhones, iPads and those visiting its website on Macs, but it will expand to additional platforms as they add support for the technology. Google released initial passkey support for Android and Chrome earlier this month and will launch the stable version, as well as an API for native Android apps, later this year. PayPal will also make passkeys available in other countries starting in early 2023.
Passkeys use your biometrics to log into your accounts, but it’s different from using your face or or fingerprints to auto-populate username and password boxes. With passkeys, you become the login. When you activate the option for an app, it creates a cryptographic key pair associated with your account. One of those keys is public, and that’s what apps and services save to confirm your identity. The other key is private and is only stored on your devices, so hackers can’t steal them if they ever get into the servers of apps you use. Apps and websites that support passkey then match the public key they have with your private key to make sure that it’s you who’s logging in.
You can switch the feature on by logging into your account with a browser on desktop or mobile — the old way, with your user ID and password — and then choosing “Create a passkey.” After you authenticate using Apple Face ID or Touch ID, your passkey will be automatically generated. And since passkeys are synced with iCloud Keychain, you only need to do that once. If you’re logging into your account on another device that doesn’t have passkey yet, you’ll have the option to generate a QR code after entering your user ID. You can then scan that QR code with an iPhone that does support passkey to be able to log in.
Microsoft is making it easier for Xbox users to join Discord voice chats
Microsoft and Discord plan to make joining a voice channel from an Xbox console easier. If you’re a frequent Discord user, you may recall the companies recently launched Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S integration. Following a beta test in July, Discord started rolling out the feature to all Xbox users in September. Unfortunately, in its current iteration, the integration isn’t as straightforward as one would hope; joining a voice chat involves a transfer process that requires the Xbox mobile app.
That’s about to change. In a blog post spotted by The Verge, Microsoft announced it was removing the need to use a phone to join Discord voice chats as part of a beta update Xbox Insiders can try out right now. The new software adds a server browser that allows you to join a voice channel directly from your console. You’ll still need your phone handy if you want to call a specific friend over Discord, but the update otherwise simplifies what was an overly complicated process previously. While the feature is currently in beta, Microsoft will likely roll it out to all Xbox users sometime over the next few weeks.
Apple is trying to make the lives of developers a whole lot easier
It’s even easier to install a boot-up video for your Steam Deck thanks to this app
New Android 13 beta makes it easier to track battery usage on Pixel phones
Meta’s making it easier to report bugs in its Horizon VR app
![Illustration of two Quest controllers with their X, Y, A, and B buttons being held down, and the “report a problem” screen that asks users to describe what went wrong.](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/KZ1VVb5666dHH7ibFGkgY0re2h4=/256x0:1792x1024/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71468596/310141805_490076233016368_2095947079896292780_n.0.png)
Meta has updated Horizon Worlds, its main virtual reality / “metaverse” app, to make it easier to report bugs. If you see something going wrong while using the app, you can now press and hold the A, B, X, and Y buttons on your controllers to bring up the “report a problem” window, where you can also attach a screenshot showing what went wrong.
If the experience seems familiar, it may be because it’s been in testing for a while; according to Meta spokesperson Kelsi Horn, there were early tests available to “a subset of creators” as far back as April 2021. Since then, according to Horn, Meta has improved the UI and is now rolling it out to everyone. Horn added that “bugs reported through this tool are individually triaged by members of the…