In its ongoing push to corner the education market, Google is introducing new classroom-specific features to Chrome OS. The first of those is Screencast, a new built-in app that allows teachers to build a video library of lessons and demos students can turn to if they miss a class or need help with a homework assignment. Available as of Chrome OS version M103, the software includes tools for trimming and transcribing clips.

Google points out that students can also use the app to create video reports and share ideas with classmates. Additionally, Screencast supports stylus input, allowing both teachers and students to write and draw on their videos. Sharing is done through Google Drive, allowing students to access content their teachers upload both at school and at home.

The other feature Google introduced today is a new cast moderator mode designed to give teachers more control over onscreen presentations and other content shared wirelessly within their classroom. With the help of an access code, the feature gives educators the power to turn off disruptive screencasts. Before making the feature widely available, Google plans to run a pilot program to trial the feature with a select group of schools this summer. Once it’s available, it will work with the company’s Chrome browser, Chrome OS and Google TV devices.

Google

Google also announced today it’s partnering with Figma, a collaborative graphic design tool, to optimize its software for Chromebooks. With the partnership, schools in the US can download a free beta of the software through the Google Admin Console.

As with many other PC manufacturers, LG is gradually updating its laptop lineup with the latest processors from Intel and AMD. On Monday, the same day Apple announced its new M2 MacBook Air, the company refreshed its ultraportable Gram lineup with Intel’s 12th-gen Core CPUs.

LG

As of today, all six models in the family, including the Gram 15 and both the 14- and 16-inch Gram 2-in-1s, come with Intel’s new Alder Lake chips. Additionally, you can now configure the laptops with up to 32GB of 5,200MHz DDR5 RAM. Also new to the lineup is support for PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSD drives, with the entire family offering two slots for storage.

Outside of an internal spec bump, the most noteworthy change to the Gram lineup is the addition of LG Glance, a display tool the company added with help from Mirametrix. The technology enables a handful of new features. To start, the laptop's screen will automatically lock when you walk away and blur when the computer notices someone looking at your screen over your shoulder. And if you connect an external display to one of LG’s new laptops, they will also automatically move your cursor to whatever screen you’re currently looking at – which sounds like it would be incredibly jarring. You can see the Glance functionality in action in the video below.

As before, the Grams come with 16:10 displays to give you slightly more screen real estate for productivity tasks. LG is sticking with IPS panels for the entire lineup, with the standard models offering up to 350 nits of brightness and the 2-in-1s maxing out at 300 nits, but they feature a new anti-glare coating for fewer distracting reflections.

LG is also expanding the Gram line to include a 16-inch portable monitor. The 16MQ70 features a 2,560 by 1,600 resolution IPS panel with 99 percent coverage of the DCI-P3 color gamut, a 16:10 aspect ratio and a 1,200 to 1 contrast ratio. You can purchase it starting today for $350 through the company’s website. The updated Gram laptop line is also available today, with the 15-inch model starting at $1,199 and the flagship 17-inch variant priced at $1,599 and above.

With a revamped lock screen, redesigned notifications and an enhanced Focus mode, iOS 16 promises to bring a lot of useful new features to Apple's iPhone later this year. But as is always the case with keynotes like WWDC, there's not enough time to cover every enhancement. And one such feature Apple didn't mention is that iOS will allow you to use Face ID even when your iPhone is oriented horizontally.  

The quality of life improvement was spotted by Vox Media product manager Parker Ortolani on Apple's iOS 16 preview webpage. As The Verge points out, Apple has allowed iPad owners to use Face ID in this way for a while now, so it's not exactly a new feature. Still, it's one of those changes iPhone users, particularly those who use devices like the Razer Kishi and Backbone One, will appreciate. On its preview page, Apple says the feature will work with supported models without specifying the exact ones included in that list. We've reached out to the company for more information.      

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Ventura, the next version of Apple's Mac operating system, will make it easier for you to keep track of all your disparate apps and windows. New to macOS 13 is Stage Manager, a feature that will group all your windows to the side of your desktop, organizing them by app. Whenever you switch between programs, Ventura will move the app and its accompanying windows to the center of your screen. Think of a Stage Manager as a dock for your currently open apps.     

Developing...

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You won't need an Apple Watch to access the company's Fitness app anymore. With iOS 16, Apple is bringing the software to iPhone, the company announced during WWDC 2022. Like its watchOS counterpart, the app will allow you to set daily activity goals, with a "Move ring" there to motivate you to stay active throughout the day. Your iPhone will use its sensors to track your steps and workouts and then convert that information into an estimation of the calories you've burned. At any time, you can share your Move ring with friends and family to push them to achieve their activity goals too.  

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Apple is adding Pay Later functionality to its Wallet app, the company announced today during WWDC 2022. The feature will allow you to split the cost of Apple Pay purchases into four equal payments with no interest and late fees. 

Reports that Apple was working on a pay later service first came out in 2021.

Developing...

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China’s Shenzhou-14 mission has successfully docked with the country's Tiangong space station on Sunday. According to CNN, the three-person crew of the spacecraft arrived at the Tianhe “Harmony of the Heavens” crew module at 5:42PM local time after launching from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert earlier in the day. The arrival marks the start of a six-month stay at the station for the mission’s astronauts that will see China attempt to make significant progress toward the completion of Tiangong.

The country hopes to finish building the station by the end of the year. Next month, it will launch the first of two lab modules that will expand Tiangong’s capabilities, with the latter to follow in October. The modules will allow Chinese astronauts to conduct microgravity and life science research. After the country completed its first-ever tandem spacewalk last year, the Shenzhou-14 crew will conduct multiple EVAs to prepare the station for expansion. Among the three astronauts is Liu Yang, the first Chinese woman to make it to space nearly a decade ago during the country’s Shenzhou-9 mission.

Once complete, the entire t-shaped structure will be about a fifth of the size of the International Space Station, with long-term accommodation for three astronauts. According to Reuters, China is exploring the possibility of allowing commercial space flights to visit Tiangong. It has also invited international space agencies to visit the station. The successful launch of Shenzhou-14 caps off a busy week in space travel, with NASA preparing to begin testing its next-generation SLS rocket again and Blue Origin successfully completing its fifth crewed flight on Saturday.

Nearly four years after it first announced the game, Blizzard released Diablo Immortal on Android, iOS and PC earlier this week. And shortly after the game made its way to mobile one day early, players with Samsung phones took to Reddit and other community forums to complain about technical issues. On some devices with the company’s own in-house Exynos chipsets, Diablo Immortal is unplayable, with one of the most prominent issues being textures not loading properly.

“We are exploring the issues people are experiencing with some Samsung Galaxy specific devices that use Exynos chipsets,” a Blizzard spokesperson said in a Reddit comment spotted by SamMobile. “For now, we may disable downloads for this set of devices while we work to address this. Apologies on this and we will be working on getting a fix up and ready as soon as possible.”

Among the list of affected handsets include older devices like the Galaxy S10, Note 10 and A51 5G, but people with models as recent as the Galaxy S22 have also complained of texture issues. If you own a Qualcomm-equipped version of one of those phones, you can download and play the game without issue. You can check what chipset your phone features by navigating to the “About Phone” section of Android’s system settings. 

Marvel’s I Am Groot Disney+ animated series will arrive on August 10th. Marvel Studios announced the release date on Sunday in a poster the company shared on Twitter. The announcement means Marvel fans will have more than one series to watch this summer, with She-Hulk: Attorney at Law premiering a week after I Am Groot.

If it wasn’t clear from the poster, which features Baby Groot resting his cute head on the front of Star-Lord’s iconic Sony TPS-L2 Walkman, the series takes place after 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy. While Disney has yet to share many details on the series, we do know that Vin Diesel will return to voice Groot in his latest misadventures. With Sunday’s announcement, there’s a good chance we could see Disney share the show’s first trailer soon. Groot will also appear in the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, which is due later this year, as well as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 next year.

Weeks after NASA decided to postpone testing of its next-generation Space Launch System to make repairs to the rocket, it’s ready to try again. Starting at 12:01AM on June 6th, technicians at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida will begin rolling out the spacecraft from the facility’s Vehicle Assembly Building. It will take approximately eight to 12 hours for NASA to transport Artemis 1 along the four-mile road to Launch Pad 39B, with the agency planning to livestream part of the event on YouTube.

As Space.com notes, the overnight rollout is a concession toward utility. Moving the vehicle at night means NASA can avoid subjecting it to the worst of Flordia’s hot and humid daytime weather. Once Artemis 1 is back at Pad 39B, NASA plans to restart the rocket’s “wet dress rehearsal” on June 19th. The test is designed to replicate the countdown procedure it will undergo when the Artemis 1 mission hopefully gets underway later this year. 

Following an initial attempt on April 1st, NASA attempted to complete a modified version of the trial on April 14th, but that was cut short after technicians discovered a hydrogen leak in the SLS mobile launch tower. NASA eventually decided to roll the rocket back to the Vehicle Assembly Building to fix the issues that had come up in its previous test attempts and give a critical gaseous nitrogen supplier time to complete capacity upgrades.

Provided there aren’t further setbacks, the June 19th fueling trial will take about 48 hours to complete. If all goes according to plan, the earliest Artemis 1 could get underway is on July 26th, though it’s among dozens of potential launch dates NASA has plotted out between now and the end of 2022, with more dates available next year.