Dyslexia affects as much as 20 percent of the population and is one of the most common learning disabilities. It’s for that reason accessibility features like the "Select-to-speak" tool in Chrome OS are vitally important. If you’re not familiar, it allows you to select a section of text and have it read out loud by the operating system. Following an update earlier in the year that added playback controls, Google is now introducing more human-sounding voices. With today’s update, the feature is available in 25 languages and various accents, with more to come.

Google worked with both people who live with dyslexia and educators to develop the new voices. The company says it should help with reading comprehension, particularly in classroom settings. You can enable Select-to-speak through your Chromebook’s settings menu. Once the feature is turned on, highlight a section of text and press either the Everything Button or the Launcher Key and S for Chrome OS to dictate your selection.

Tinder wants to help you find a date for the next wedding you plan to attend. The dating app now includes a “Plus One” feature that allows you to indicate whether you’re looking for a wedding date or open to be that person for someone else. You’ll find the experience inside the Explore tab. That’s the same section of the app where you can pay for a Lyft ride for your date.

In a way, the introduction of Plus One is a response to something Tinder users already come to the app to find. Since the start of 2021, the company says profile mentions of “plus one” have increased by 45 percent. Still, it must be said it takes a certain amount of audacity to show up at a wedding with a total stranger — just imagine the drama that could unfold. And not every host may be cool with the idea. Use at your own risk.

The wait is over. It’s now possible to encrypt your WhatsApp chat history on both Android and iOS, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on Thursday. The company plans to roll out the feature slowly to ensure it can deliver a consistent and reliable experience to all users.

However, once you can access the feature, it will allow you to secure your backups before they hit iCloud or Google Drive. At that point, neither WhatsApp nor your cloud service provider will be able to access the files. It’s also worth mentioning you won’t be able to recover your backups if you ever lose the 64-digit encryption key that secures your chat logs. That said, it’s also possible to secure your backups behind a password, in which case you can recover that if you ever lose it.

While WhatsApp has allowed users to securely message each other since 2016, it only started testing encrypted backups earlier this year. With today’s announcement, the company said it has taken the final step toward providing a full end-to-end encrypted messaging experience. 

It’s worth pointing out that end-to-end encryption doesn’t guarantee your privacy will be fully protected. According to a report The Information published in August, Facebook was looking into an AI that could analyze encrypted data without having to decrypt it so that it could serve ads based on that information. The head of WhatsApp denied the report, but it’s a reminder that there’s more to privacy than merely the existence of end-to-end encryption.

You’ll soon have an easier time scrolling through search results on your phone. In the US, Google is rolling out a tweak that does away with the “See more” prompt you’ve had to tap on previously to load additional search results on mobile devices. Now, when you get to the bottom of a set of results, the company’s search engine will instead automatically load the next page for you, allowing you to continuously scroll until you find a website you want to visit.

You should see the change on both your mobile web browser and the Google app for iOS and Android. Per TechCrunch, the company is staggering out the rollout of the feature, so you won’t be able to scroll through every set of results, at least not initially. The change follows a redesign of mobile search Google released at the start of 2021.

While most usually find what they’re looking for quickly, Google notes some people view as many as four pages of search results before they click through to a website. The company suggests the move to continuous scrolling should be particularly helpful to those who tend to ask more open-ended questions of its search engine. It’s also a tweak that brings the platform more in line with modern feed-style apps like Instagram and TikTok.

Ahead of its November 5th release date, we’ve seen sneak peeks of Call of Duty’s Vanguard’s single and multiplayer components. On Thursday, publisher Activision shared a new trailer and blog posts that offer a first look at the game's upcoming Zombies mode.

Developed by Treyarch, Vanguard’s Zombies mode ties into the Dark Aether storyline established in Black Ops Cold War. One year after suffering a decisive defeat at the Battle of Stalingrad, a Nazi officer named Oberführer Wolfram Von List finds a mysterious artifact that binds him to an entity called Kortifex, allowing him to summon an army of the undead. It’s up to you and as many as three other players to battle through the ruins of Stalingrad and stop him.

As you play through a match and complete objectives, you’ll find items called Sacrificial Hearts. You can offer these at an Altar of Covenants to access randomized upgrades that will tweak your playstyle. One of those upgrades will reload your weapons while they’re holstered, while another will allow you to turn zombies into temporary allies.

Any experience you earn while playing Zombies will count toward Vanguard’s Batte Pass, which also shares progression between multiplayer and Warzone. The mode will also support cross-platform play between different consoles. As mentioned above, Vanguard launches on November 5th. It will be available on PlayStation 4, PS5, PC, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. 

On October 18th, Apple will hold its second event of the fall and likely last event of the year. The invite the company sent out this time doesn’t provide any hints on what announcements we should expect, but thanks to a variety of leaks and reports, we have some good ideas about what it will show off.

MacBook Pro

Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

All signs point to new 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro models headlining the event. Apple will reportedly turn back the clock on its flagship laptop, undoing many of the design features that have defined the line since late 2016. MagSafe may be back on the table, as well as an HDMI port and SD card slot. Oh, and the Touch Bar will apparently get the axe, with a standard set of function keys set to replace the OLED strip.

Beyond those changes, the new MacBook Pro is expected to feature thinner bezels. According to display analyst Ross Young, it could even come with a mini-LED panel capable of refreshing its screen at 120Hz. Ross suggests that’s a feature both models could include, but knowing Apple, it may be something that’s only available on the top-tier 16-inch model or an add-on that costs extra. Additionally, there have been reports of the 14- and 16-inch models supporting maximum resolutions of 3,024 x 1,964 and 3,456 x 2,224, which would be a major upgrade over the current 13- and 16-inch MacBook Pros.

Internally, the MacBook Pro will reportedly include Apple’s latest system-on-a-chip, possibly called the M1X. According to a recent report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, there will be two variants of the M1X, with the main difference between the two coming down to the number of graphics cores they have at their disposal. In addition to delivering faster performance than the M1, the new chip could come with support for up to 32GB of RAM, making it a much better fit for work like coding and video editing.

Speaking of the M1X, it could tie into the other announcements Apple has planned for October 18th. In August, Gurman said Apple was working on a redesigned Mac mini that will include the new processor and add additional ports. At the time, he noted the desktop would launch sometime within the “next several months.” Recent reports suggest that a new Mac mini isn’t a guarantee for next week, but Apple could still surprise us. We know from Gurman and analyst Ming-Chi Kuo that Apple is also working on a redesigned MacBook Air, but the company reportedly won’t announce that device until sometime next year.

macOS Monterey

Apple

Given the timing of the event and the likely focus on Mac hardware, Apple will almost certainly announce a release date for macOS Monterey. The company previewed the next version of its desktop operating system at WWDC 2021, showing how features like SharePlay and Universal Control will build on the enhancements it introduced with Big Sur in 2020. We got a chance to preview the update this past summer and found it was a mostly subtle upgrade to Apple’s desktop OS. Still, we wager Mac fans will be excited to find out when they can download the software.

Everything else

We could also see the company announce a new set of AirPods to replace the current second-generation model. Apple hasn’t updated its original wireless earbuds since 2019 when it released a minor update that added support for inductive charging. Taking a page from the AirPods Pro, the new model is expected to feature an updated design with shorter stems, but they won’t include more premium features like ANC. In the lead-up to next week’s event, we’ve seen leaked images of the third-generation AirPods with both silicone ear tips and without. So it’s not clear just how heavily Apple plans to lean into the AirPods Pro design.

We’ll note here AirPods haven’t been a frequent feature of Apple’s hardware events. Outside of when it unveiled the earbuds back in 2016, Apple has announced all subsequent models, including the AirPods Pro and AirPods Max, through press releases. We can see the company doing the same here with the new “basic” model. One last thing the company could mention at the event is that Apple Music is coming to the PlayStation 4 and PS5. Given that you can already access Apple TV from Sony’s consoles, it’s not a jump for the streaming service to become available there as well.

So there you have it, that’s everything we see Apple potentially sharing on October 18th. As always, the company could surprise us, so you’ll want to visit Engadget on the day of the event. We’ll have comprehensive coverage of the company’s latest announcements.

On November 12th, The Shrink Next Door will debut on Apple TV+. Oddly enough, the Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd vehicle is one of two upcoming shows centered on unethical psychiatrists coming to the streaming service. This week, Apple announced a 10-episode order for Shrinking, a new series that will star Jason Segel as a therapist who tells his patients exactly what he thinks. Ted Lasso co-creator Bill Lawrence and star Brett Goldstein, who plays Roy Kent in the popular comedy series, will write and produce the new show alongside Segel.

It’s an interesting move for a company that, despite some recent successes, is one of the newer players in the streaming space and still building out its lineup while seeing what works. As ever, the company’s approach seems to be to give established talent the runway to create what they think people will want to watch.

It turns out there’s much more to Nintendo’s recently released OLED Switch than a new display panel from Samsung. Conducting a teardown of the console, the DIY heroes at iFixit found the company made a variety of internal tweaks that make for a device that’s significantly different from its predecessor.

Like Sony’s latest PlayStation 5 revision, the OLED Switch features a smaller cooling assembly than previous models. iFixit suspects Nintendo this tweak to either save on space or dial back the launch model’s “cooling overcompensation.” All we can say is we hope the change doesn’t lead to claims the new model is “worse” than its predecessor. In another space-saving measure, Nintendo has consolidated some components onto a single board. The console’s SD card reader, headphone jack and cartridge reader are now all found on a single PCB.

iFixit

Notably, the only controller-related change the OLED variant features is a set of new console-side rails that hold their respective Joy-Cons more securely. Another change sees the console’s interconnect cables taped to the top of a metal shield. While that's something that will make fixing the OLED Switch on your own more difficult, iFixit suspects it could help with WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity issues.

Speaking of repairability, iFixit gave the OLED model a score of seven out of 10. That’s one less than the company awarded the original model. The OLED Switch features a non-modular storage module that’s soldered to its motherboard, making easy repairs and upgrades on that front something you can’t do.

Twitter has launched a new three-month accelerator program to help up-and-coming Spaces creators. Dubbed the Twitter Spaces Spark Program, the company says the initiative will provide audio hosts with financial, technical and marketing support. Those who get into the program can look forward to a $2,500 monthly stipend, monthly ad credits, early access to upcoming Twitter products and features, as well as support from the company’s social media channels.

The accelerator is currently only open to creators over the age of 18 who live in the US. Additionally, Twitter will only accept those with 5,000 or more active followers. There’s also an expectation those in the program will broadcast a minimum of two Spaces per week. 

Following a limited iOS-only release in August, Twitter also announced today that it has started rolling out Ticketed Spaces to Android users in the US. The feature allows creators to charge for access to their live audio events.

Instagram is adding two new enhancements to its livestreaming toolset. Starting today, creators can schedule their Live broadcasts up to 90 days in advance, and share the fact they’re doing so in both posts and Stories. Viewers can use those to set a reminder for themselves not to miss the broadcast.

Instagram also plans to roll out a “Practice Mode” soon. The tool allows creators to connect with guests before they start a broadcast so that they can do things like check audio levels and lighting, and go over any content they plan to cover.

The new features follow the introduction of audio-only livestreams in April. If you’re someone who merely watches Live sessions, Live Scheduling and Practice Mode won’t change your experience dramatically, but they may help your favorite creators get more organized.