What is Hangouts Meet and Hangouts Chat, how do they work, and when can you use them?

Days after Microsoft announced a release date for its Slack competitor, Teams, Google has introduced its own workplace chat offering.

Companies are increasingly taking an enterprise focus when it comes to chat services. Facebook, for instance, offers Workplace, a mobile and web app that aims to keep your team members connected, while Microsoft has Teams, and then, of course, there’s Slack, the app that kicked-started this trend in which businesses now require purpose-built tools to help their employees communicate.

These tools are more popular then ever because, as Google noted, more than half of the workforce is expected to “contribute remotely by 2020”. They need something that will help them to connect over video, and their chat experience has to be collaborative. So, with that in mind, Google has turned Hangouts into two services, Hangouts Meet and Hangouts Chat, which are aimed at bringing teams together.

Here’s everything you need to know about the new Hangouts.

• What is Slack and how does it work?
• Facebook Workplace: How does it work and when can you use it?
• Microsoft Teams is here: A Slack-like app that’s part of Office 365

What is Google Hangouts?

Google Hangouts is a unified communications service that enables text, voice, or video chats, either one-on-one or in a group. Hangouts is built into Google+, Gmail, YouTube, and Google Voice, plus there’s Hangouts apps for iOS, Android, and the web. It’s essentially a useful and cost-effective collaboration platform for the average person as well as enterprise customers.

How has Google Hangouts changed?

Hangouts Meet

Google has described Hangouts Meet as “a new video meeting experience with one goal: make joining meetings effortless”. The company wanted to improve Hangouts to make it easier and faster for people start and join video conference. Hangouts Meet is designed to have a “light, fast interface and smart participant management”. It even allows up to 30-person meetings.

Hangouts Chat

Hangouts Chat is “an intelligent communication app for teams that takes direct messaging in Hangouts and evolves it to reflect the way modern teams talk business,” according to Google. The idea behind it is that teams working on a project should be able to discuss tasks, share work, and more. So, Hangouts Chat offers virtual rooms with threaded conversations and integration with other Google products, like Drive.

How does Hangouts Meet work?

Video conferences

To start your meetings, you’ll simply share a link. There will be no accounts, plugins, downloads, or hassles required. People can click on this link from Google Calendar, an email invite, or an ad-hoc share. And if you’re dialing in from a conference room, your laptop, or a dedicated mobile app, Google said it will be “just a few clicks and you’re in”, though it’s being vague on details right now.

Presentations

Hangouts Meet offers native, full-screen presenting, which Google said makes it easy to showcase your team’s projects.

G Suite integration

G Suite is a package of cloud-based services that can provide your company or school with a new way to work together online. You get a domain name and access to Gmail, Calendar, Drive, and other core G Suite services like Google+, Blogger, and now Hangouts Meet. Meet integrates directly with G Suite. And for G Suite Enterprise customers, each meeting has a dedicated dial-in phone number.

How does Hangouts Chat work?

Virtual rooms

Hangouts Chat features dedicated, virtual rooms for each project your team may have – and they consist of: threaded conversations, so your team can chat and track the progress of the discussion; deep integration with G Suite, so you can share content from Drive and Docs, or you can view things like photos and videos directly from conversation; and filterable search so you can search back through old discussions.

Third-party integrations

Hangouts Chat is a platform, too, so that means you can expect third-party integrations in the form of bots, which will allow your teams to do more within their conversation. Google said it has already teamed up with companies like Asana, Box, Prosperworks, and Zendesk.

@Meet

Hangouts Chat features @meet, which Google has described as an “intelligent bot built on top of the Hangouts platform that uses natural language processing and machine learning to automatically schedule meetings for your team with Hangouts Meet and Google Calendar”. In other words, it sounds a lot like the Google Assistant bot it introduced in the Allo chat app last summer.

When will Hangouts Meet and Hangouts Chat be available?

Hangouts Meet is generally available now and will gradually roll out to all G Suite customers “over the next few weeks”. G Suite customers will be able to apply to try Hangouts Chat through the Early Adopter Program. Go here for more information about that.

How much does Hangouts Meet and Hangouts Chat cost?

You can use Hangouts Meet and Hangouts Chat as part of your G Suite package. Go here for more details on pricing for each plan. The basic plan starts at $5 per user per month.

Is Hangouts going away?

No. Hangouts Meet and Hangouts Chat are essentially the enterprise counterparts to Allo and Duo. The current Hangouts app isn’t going away just yet, and we imagine it’ll be updated in the future to reflect some of these new changes.

‘Gran Turismo Sport’ closed beta kicks off March 17th

Like seemingly every Polyphony Digital game, Gran Turismo Sport has been a long time in coming… but you might not have to wait much longer to give it a spin. Polyphony has announced a Gran Turismo Sport closed beta that will start March 17th for PS4 owners in the US, with other countries following later. Just which cars, races and tracks you’ll get will “vary” throughout the test, but you’ll definitely get a taste for how your Driver Profile (which accounts for your on-track behavior and performance) matches you up with similarly skilled online rivals.

You won’t be racing all day, at least not at first. The team is borrowing a page from Nintendo and will only open its servers at certain times. In this case, it’s to make sure American beta hours are “matched to the development team in Tokyo” and deliver ideal feedback. Don’t panic if you can’t play, though — Polyphony is promising “larger” beta access, so you might not have to wait until launch to see if the studio’s first PS4 racer is worth the protracted development cycle.

Source: PlayStation Blog

Marines had swapped nude photos of female soldiers since last May

Last Saturday, the California-based Center for Investigative Reporting revealed that a Facebook group, Marines United, had been distributing nude photos of servicewomen for some time. US Naval authorities immediately began investigating hundreds of Marines, but more details have emerged in the days since — including the discovery of another image posting board where users traded photos of women from all service branches, even requesting some by name.

Sources pointed Business Insider to the site, called AnonIB. It apparently had a section dedicated to service members, which was used as a photo request-and-exchange forum since at least last May. Threads asking for revealing images of female service members — “wins,” as they were termed — specified by name, unit or where they were stationed. Photos were found across the internet, some self-posted from services like Instagram.

After the story broke, users were still posting on the Facebook group (since taken down) asking for the photos. Allegedly, replies pointed users to a Dropbox account “Girls of MU,” where some photos were uploaded. A Dropbox spokesperson confirmed to Engadget that said images have been taken down.

Spokespeople for the armed branches have condemned the actions of service members exploiting their peers. Today, two female soldiers identified themselves as victims of the illegal photo sharing ring, urging others to similarly step up and meet the Marines’ top commander, General Robert Neller.

Source: Business Insider

Google updates G Suite with new Google Drive services for business customers

Why it matters to you

Businesses and corporations now have new tools and better control over files shared and edited across teams, better data archiving, and more in the G Suite platform and Google Drive.

During the Google Cloud Next conference in San Francisco, the company introduced several new Google Drive tools for the enterprise sector. These include the official public rollout of Team Drives along with Google Vault for Drive, Drive File Stream, and a few more. The tools are part of Google’s G Suite subscription-based platform offering versions of Gmail, Google Drive, and more packed with enterprise-focused features.

For starters, Team Drives first made its appearance for testing at the end of 2016. It provides an assigned team of individuals with a shared space in the cloud. Administrators can add new team members when needed, manage the sharing permissions, and keep a watchful eye over every Team Drive used by the company. Team members can leave the group whenever they want, but the files uploaded to the shared space will remain intact.

More: Google is bringing native add-on support to Gmail

Next is Google Vault for Drive. This service targets the archiving and “eDiscovery” needs of the enterprise by enabling corporations to export, search, hold, and retain their data stored on Google Drive. Examples include files stored on Team Drives, Google Groups data, email messages, and more. The typical use of Vault spans from audit reports to legal holds to setting retention rules for archiving data.

As for Drive File Stream, it’s available now in the Early Adopter Program. This service doesn’t require users on a Mac or PC to download their files locally before viewing or editing. Instead, files are automatically streamed when accessed from Google Drive. That essentially means teams aren’t waiting for files to sync or worrying about the storage space on their device. All files are streamed “on demand,” but they can be stored locally too for offline access when needed.

“With Drive File Stream, you can work with Drive files directly from the apps you’re used to, like Microsoft Word and Adobe Photoshop,” Google states. “Any changes you make to files in those apps are saved automatically to Drive and can be accessed from any of your devices later.”

Finally, subscribers can use Quick Access with Team Drives through iOS and Android devices. Coming soon to the web as well, this service is based on the company’s machine intelligence that will “surface” files stored on Google Drive based on intelligent predictions. The artificial intelligence analyzes the Drive’s activity, interactions between colleagues, and workday patterns to determine what files are most relevant in a search. Behavior examples used by the AI include frequently shared files, the times of relevant meetings, and more.

Outside those four new features for Google Drive, the company also announced its acquisition of AppBridge. This company developed a migration tool of the same name for the G Suite platform, enabling organizations to move their data from other storage solutions to Google Drive. It supports migration from on-premise devices, cloud services, and “hybrid solutions.” File permissions are also brought over during the migration process.

Organizations wanting to jump on the G Suite train can contact Google here.

Got a Benjamin to burn? Here are our 17 favorite gadgets under $100

In today’s high-tech society, it seems a $100 can go further than ever before. The price of a quality tablet and laptop is plummeting, as the amount you have to spend on a fitness tracker and other wearable gadgets that are beginning to perforate the mainstream (for better or worse). For less than the cost of your monthly coffee allowance at Starbucks, you can now pick up a device that streams any content you might want to your HDTV, or a phenomenal e-reader on which to reread select passengers from your favorite guilty-pleasure novel.

More: Got 50 bucks and an itch to spend it? Here’s the best tech to spend it on

You may not be able to achieve the pristine clarity of a 4K television or the robust processing power of the latest gaming machines, but there’s no reason you can’t find something to satisfy your tech cravings without breaking the bank. Below are 17 of our favorite pieces of tech for under $100 — shipping prices not included. After all, what else is Amazon Prime for?

Samsung Gear VR

Virtual reality has long been the dream of science fiction. However, after years of failed attempt, innovations, and Johnny Mnemonic, consumer VR finally is poised to make a big splash. The big names in VR — namely the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive — are still wildly unaffordable for the time being; however, some smaller less expensive VR headsets are already a hit with consumers. Samsung’s Gear VR is the best of these, drawing on Oculus’ technology to provide a portable VR experience. The headset uses a smartphone as a screen, so users will need to own one of the four compatible Samsung phones. Those who do will appreciate the headset’s ergonomic design and foam lining, which make the act of wearing a large visor on your face as inconspicuous as possible. Developers are still experimenting with VR, so the quality of games and apps varies greatly. However, early gems like Gunjack and Land’s End show the platform’s promise. Read our full review here.

Price: $60

Buy one now from:

Samsung B&H Amazon

Got a Benjamin to burn? Here are our 17 favorite gadgets under $100

In today’s high-tech society, it seems a $100 can go further than ever before. The price of a quality tablet and laptop is plummeting, as the amount you have to spend on a fitness tracker and other wearable gadgets that are beginning to perforate the mainstream (for better or worse). For less than the cost of your monthly coffee allowance at Starbucks, you can now pick up a device that streams any content you might want to your HDTV, or a phenomenal e-reader on which to reread select passengers from your favorite guilty-pleasure novel.

More: Got 50 bucks and an itch to spend it? Here’s the best tech to spend it on

You may not be able to achieve the pristine clarity of a 4K television or the robust processing power of the latest gaming machines, but there’s no reason you can’t find something to satisfy your tech cravings without breaking the bank. Below are 17 of our favorite pieces of tech for under $100 — shipping prices not included. After all, what else is Amazon Prime for?

Samsung Gear VR

Virtual reality has long been the dream of science fiction. However, after years of failed attempt, innovations, and Johnny Mnemonic, consumer VR finally is poised to make a big splash. The big names in VR — namely the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive — are still wildly unaffordable for the time being; however, some smaller less expensive VR headsets are already a hit with consumers. Samsung’s Gear VR is the best of these, drawing on Oculus’ technology to provide a portable VR experience. The headset uses a smartphone as a screen, so users will need to own one of the four compatible Samsung phones. Those who do will appreciate the headset’s ergonomic design and foam lining, which make the act of wearing a large visor on your face as inconspicuous as possible. Developers are still experimenting with VR, so the quality of games and apps varies greatly. However, early gems like Gunjack and Land’s End show the platform’s promise. Read our full review here.

Price: $60

Buy one now from:

Samsung B&H Amazon

Got a Benjamin to burn? Here are our 17 favorite gadgets under $100

In today’s high-tech society, it seems a $100 can go further than ever before. The price of a quality tablet and laptop is plummeting, as the amount you have to spend on a fitness tracker and other wearable gadgets that are beginning to perforate the mainstream (for better or worse). For less than the cost of your monthly coffee allowance at Starbucks, you can now pick up a device that streams any content you might want to your HDTV, or a phenomenal e-reader on which to reread select passengers from your favorite guilty-pleasure novel.

More: Got 50 bucks and an itch to spend it? Here’s the best tech to spend it on

You may not be able to achieve the pristine clarity of a 4K television or the robust processing power of the latest gaming machines, but there’s no reason you can’t find something to satisfy your tech cravings without breaking the bank. Below are 17 of our favorite pieces of tech for under $100 — shipping prices not included. After all, what else is Amazon Prime for?

Samsung Gear VR

Virtual reality has long been the dream of science fiction. However, after years of failed attempt, innovations, and Johnny Mnemonic, consumer VR finally is poised to make a big splash. The big names in VR — namely the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive — are still wildly unaffordable for the time being; however, some smaller less expensive VR headsets are already a hit with consumers. Samsung’s Gear VR is the best of these, drawing on Oculus’ technology to provide a portable VR experience. The headset uses a smartphone as a screen, so users will need to own one of the four compatible Samsung phones. Those who do will appreciate the headset’s ergonomic design and foam lining, which make the act of wearing a large visor on your face as inconspicuous as possible. Developers are still experimenting with VR, so the quality of games and apps varies greatly. However, early gems like Gunjack and Land’s End show the platform’s promise. Read our full review here.

Price: $60

Buy one now from:

Samsung B&H Amazon

1Password will pay you $100,000 if you can steal a secret file full of bad poetry

Why it matters to you

Password security has never been more important, and if you’re looking at password managers, it’s important to know they’re as secure as possible.

AgileBits, the developer behind 1Password, just upped the ante for bug hunters, putting up $100,000 for anyone who can break into a 1Password vault and obtain a plain text file full of “bad poetry.”

Previously, the “capture the flag” bug bounty was a mere $25,000, but in order to push security researchers to find vulnerabilities in the 1Password platform — and to demonstrate its effectiveness — AgileBits raised the bounty fourfold.

More: To improve security, Apple is strictly enforcing its rules against third-party app update services

The bug bounty is up on BugCrowd, a platform for crowdsourcing bug hunts, where companies can easily reward security researchers for discovering security vulnerabilities in their products. It’s the biggest bounty currently on the platform, and AgileBits claims the bounty is a measure of how seriously it takes the security of 1Password users.

“We owe it to our customers to do everything in our power to keep them and their information secure. This means using the ingenuity of real people to help us continually improve the security of 1Password. It was important to us to demonstrate how seriously we take this contribution and have increased the prize to prove it,” said Jeff Shiner of AgileBits, speaking with Tom’s Hardware.

More: Nest may release cheaper version of its flagship thermostat and a security suite

The bug bounty specifies a particular account which researchers will have to breach in order to access the bad poetry file. It’s a more focused attack than most users would ever be subjected to, but it’s a good way to stress test the 1Password platform’s overall security.

Password managers are getting more popular every day, and they’re a great way to add an extra layer of security to your digital life, but they’re only as secure as the password you use to access your password manager.

If you use your master password elsewhere, hackers could get into your password manager indirectly. Still, this bug bounty is an excellent way to test how well 1Password works as a platform, without having to compensate for user error.

Google Cloud Platform customers have host of new security features to check out

Why it matters to you

If you’re a Google Cloud Platform or G Suite customer, then you’ll be happy to know your security options just multiplied.

Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is the search engine giant’s cloud services offering that competes with Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure. Companies use GCP for a variety of tasks, from running simple websites to creating highly complex computing and network applications. To accomplish such functions, it utilizes Google’s data analytics, machine learning, computing, and other services, which are built into it.

On Thursday, at its Google Cloud Next ’17 event, the company detailed a number of updates to its cloud computing platform. One of the most important updates pertain to security — Google is implementing a number of new features aimed at making GCP and its G Suite productivity apps less prone to exploits.

More: Apple signs deal to power part of iCloud with Google Cloud Platform

First up is the new Identify-Aware Proxy, which lets GCP administrators manage access to applications running on the service on a more granular basis. This provides more secure application access than the “all-or-nothing” controls provided by VPN (virtual private network) access. Admins can allow access based on users, identity, and group, and it can be integrated with phishing-resistant security keys. The Identify-Aware Proxy is currently in beta.

Next up is the Data Loss Prevention (DLP) API, also in beta, which lets GCP admins scan for more than 40 sensitive data types for identification and redaction. The Data Loss Prevention API uses deep content analysis and allows admins to write policies managing sensitive data, and follows DLP for Gmail and Google Drive.

The Key Management System for GCP, which is now generally available, lets admins generate, use, rotate, and destroy symmetric encryption keys that are used throughout the system. GCP customers can now manage multi-tenant encryption keys without a hardware security module or without having to maintain an on-premise key management system.

Security Key Enforcement is the next feature being added, and is generally available for both GCP and G Suite. It lets admins force users to use security keys as the two-step verification factor when signing into either service.

Google Drive, Team Drives, and Google Groups now have general access to Google Vault, allowing users to establish retention policies, place legal holds, and perform searches across Drive, Gmail, Hangouts, and Groups. Search results can also be exported for legal and compliance purposes.

Finally, Google has introduced Titan, a new micro-controller that the company built specifically to “establish hardware root of trust for both machines and peripherals” in Google’s cloud infrastructure. Titan allows the secure identification and authentication of legitimate access via hardware.

If you’re a GCP or G Suite customer, these new security features are intended to both prevent and help defend against cyberattacks, and will help users enact robust enterprise security policies. To find out more about the new security features and other enhancements to Google’s cloud platform, make sure to follow along with Cloud Next ’17.

5 of the maddest gadgets at the London Wearable Tech Show

Is the world tired of wearable technology before it has even really taken off? We hardly saw any new wearables during Mobile World Congress, but at the London Wearable Technology Show, all kinds of fun, innovative, unusual, and just plain mad new gadgets were on display. From bizarre new takes on those voice changing kids’ masks, to a single device to make passwords way less annoying than before, here are the five products that made us stop and get a better look.

Hushme

Want to keep your conversations private, but don’t mind looking like Bane from Dark Knight Rises when you’re doing it? The Hushme is for you. It’s a “personal acoustic device,” that wraps around your mouth and using special sound deadening material, keeps whatever you’re saying from being heard by the outside world. It connects to your phone using Bluetooth, has a pair of earbuds for listening to music, and snaps together in front of your mouth with magnets.

If that’s not strange enough, it goes one step further in protecting your conversations, by adding an audible mask over the top. When you’re talking about what restaurant to visit in the evening, everyone around you may only hear the sound of waves, rain, various animals, or Darth Vader. Yes, really. We heard it working, and didn’t hear any actual words spoken by the person wearing the Hushme. It’s coming to Kickstarter in May for about $150, with production to start at the end of the year.

Helios Smart Ring

Vitamin D is essential for our health, but either we don’t always get enough of it, or we get too much, and that means getting burned out in the sun. The Helios is the first vitamin D wearable tracker, and it’s a smart ring worn on a finger. It treats vitamin D as a fitness metric, showing how much we’ve taken in during the day against the recommended amounts, our time exposed to the sun, and what type of sunscreen we should use. Tell the ring how much clothing you’re wearing, your skin type, and that’s about it.

The Helios is quite large, but will come in a variety of colors, and its little battery is charged in a special cradle. It takes about four hours, and will provide about three days of use. Data is collected and synced with a special app using Bluetooth. The Helios is an Indiegogo project at the moment, where prices start at $120, and the plan is to release it in May.

Sunnycam Action Cam Sunglasses

Smart glasses are making a comeback thanks to the viral success of Snapchat’s Spectacles. Sunnycam has actually been selling its video recording sunglasses for a while, and has a new model coming in the summer, adding Wi-Fi capabilities to its Sport Edition sunglasses. Equipped with a centrally mounted video camera, it’ll record an hour’s worth of video at 1080p, or can be connected to a battery pack for continuous use.

They’re surprisingly unobtrusive, and only the large arms give away their tech capabilities. The Wi-Fi model will make sharing videos easier, plus the team is working on a prescription lens add-on that clips to the inside of the frames. The sunglass lenses can be swapped out for different shades, or for polarized lenses. The new model will be out in summer for around 180 British pounds, or $220.

Portable Air Purifier

By shooting a stream of negative ions out in front of your face, the Portable Air Purifier drags all of the invisible pollutants, germs, and nasty things we don’t want to breathe in, out of the way — leaving us with lovely clean air to suck in. It hangs around your neck like one of LG’s halo-style Tone headsets, and is designed more like jewelry than technology. It’s made by a company that produces air purifiers for buildings, so there’s weight behind the way it works.

The battery inside will clean the air for about 30 hours and is recharged using a MicroUSB cable that plugs into the back of the headset. The company sees it being used in offices, on planes, or out in public. It’s also a way to actually do something about those poor air alerts we see, and to avoid germs or reduce hay fever. It’ll be out in April and cost less than 200 British pounds, which is about $240.

Hideez 2

Hideez already makes a small password manager that attaches to your keyring, but the next version will be modular, so you can wear it as a wristband, as a keyring, a pendant, or a belt clip. It’s a digital identity manager, storing passwords for devices and websites, RFID data for opening secure doors, and maintaining a Bluetooth connection with your phone and laptop in case of theft.

There’s plenty of tech packed into the new model, including an eye verification system in the app to secure your data, plus the wearable version will lock itself down when you take it off. We saw it lock and unlock a Windows computer without any time delay, based on the close proximity of the little tracker. The Hideez 2 has more memory than the first model, and it’s ideal for office management with storage space for 1,000 digital door keys, while the original only has space for one key. It’s out for pre-order in March and will cost around 60 euros, or $65.