Imagine this. You are in the middle of a virtual work meeting, comfortably seated at your desk. Suddenly, your mom walks in and tells you to shift to another room as she needs this one . However, the meeting is in full swing and it is kind of embarrassing to tell your boss that you need to shift to another room. During the pandemic, when remote work was the norm, we have all been in such situations. The only solution we had back then was to ask our boss to excuse us for a couple of seconds while we joined in from another device. And that required us to exit the call and join back in. But with Google Meet’s new feature, that won’t be the case anymore. The tech giant has finally made it easier to switch devices while you are in a call. The new feature is called, “Switch Here.”
Announcing the feature in a blog post, Google wrote, “In today’s world, getting our work done can happen from many locations, across many devices. Beginning today, you can smoothly transfer between devices while on a Google Meet call without hanging up and rejoining.
“For example, if you were taking a Meet call on your mobile phone or tablet, you could smoothly switch to your laptop when you arrived at your desk. You’ll notice the new Switch here option when joining a meeting on your laptop, which will switch the call from your mobile devices while maintaining an ongoing conversation and without worrying about missing important information.”
With this feature, switching between your computer and smartphone during a virtual group chat is much easier. Whether you’re settling into your workstation or on the move, you can seamlessly transfer your active Meet call from one device to another. And that’s not all, the feature will also enable you to join a call from two different devices simultaneously.
Tag: Google Meet
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Google Meet makes it easier to switch calls, lets you transfer calls across devices
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Google Meet rolls out video backgrounds on web
After default and custom wallpapers, Google Meet is now rolling out support for video backgrounds that are first coming to the web this month and then to mobile “in the coming months”.
This capability was first announced with the revamped Google Meet web UI that’s now widely rolled out, 9To5Google reported.
In addition to static backgrounds, you can now select videos—custom backgrounds can help you show more of your personality, as well help hide your surroundings to maintain privacy.
With the option of replacing your background with video, we hope this makes your video calls more fun.
There are three options at launch—a classroom, party and forest. The company said that more Meet video backgrounds are coming.
In terms of availability, it will first launch on the web starting June 7.
From June 30, both video and image backgrounds will require at least version 87 (released in November 2020) of Google Chrome.
Source: IANS
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Ambani’s JioMeet takes on Zoom
MUMBAI (TIP): India’s Reliance Jio Platforms, which recently concluded a $15.2 billion fundraise run, is ready to enter a new business: Video conferencing.
On Thursday, July 2 evening, the firm — backed by Mukesh Ambani, India’s richest man — formally launched JioMeet, its video-conference service that looks uncannily like Zoom.
Like Zoom and Google Meet, JioMeet offers unlimited number of free calls in high definition (720p) to users and supports as many as 100 participants on a call. But interestingly, it appears to not impose a short time limit on a call’s duration. Jio Platforms says a free call can be uninterrupted for “up to 24 hours” long. The service currently has no paid plans and it’s unclear if Jio Platforms, which has a reputation of giving away services for free for years, plans to change that.
Jio Platforms, which began beta testing JioMeet in May this year, said the video conferencing service offers “enterprise-grade” host controls. These include password protection on each call, multi-device login support (up to five devices), and ability to share screen and collaborate.
Other features include the ability to switch “seemingly” from one device to another, and a ‘Safe Driving Mode’ for when a participant is in commute. Hosts can also enable a ‘waiting room’ to ensure participants have to ask for permission to enter a call.
The company did not provide any more details, including whether people outside of India could use the service. On its website, JioMeet claims all the meetings are “encrypted” but does not elaborate whether these calls are end-to-end encrypted.
The launch of JioMeet today comes as tens of millions of people in India are working from home and using video conferencing services for work and to stay in touch with friends.
Zoom, currently the most popular video conference service in India, on Android had about 35 million monthly active users in the third week of June, up from about 4 million users during the same period in March, according to mobile insights firm App Annie, data of which an industry executive shared with TechCrunch. (Android powers nearly 99% of smartphones in India.)
In a call with analysts earlier this year, Jio executives had described JioMeet as a platform that they think would someday have features to enable doctors to consult their patients, prescribe them medicine, and have a system in place to let them buy medicines online and get test results digitally. Similarly, they said JioMeet will allow teachers to host virtual classrooms for their students, with the ability to record sessions, assign and accept homework, and conduct tests digitally.
JioPlatforms, which is India’s top telecom operator with about 400 million customers, operates a number of digital services including JioMusic, a music streaming service; JioCinema, which offers thousands of TV shows and movies; and JioTV, which allows users to watch more than 500 TV channels. All of these services are available at no additional charge to Jio Platforms subscribers. It costs less than $2 a month to be a Jio subscriber.
The launch of JioMeet — available for use through Chrome and Firefox browsers on desktop, as well as via standalone apps for macOS, Windows, iOS, and Android, and an Outlook plugin — coincides with a nationwide ban on 59 Chinese services including TikTok, ShareIt, Alibaba Group’s UC Browser and Tencent’s WeChat. New Delhi banned these services on Monday evening citing security concerns.
Updated on July 3
Intel said on Friday, July 3, it will invest $253.5 million in Jio Platforms, joining a roster of high-profile investors including Facebook and Silver Lake that have backed India’s top telecom operator in recent months.
(Source: Agencies)