As expected, Zoom is looking to take on the likes of Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace in more areas than group video calls and chats. At its Zoomtopia conference, the company announced a bunch of features that are coming to its platform, including two key ones for productivity: email and calendars. You can connect third-party email and calendar services to Zoom and access them through the desktop app. The company says that can help save you time instead of having to switch between apps and perhaps needing to hunt for the right tab in your browser.

Those on the Zoom One Pro or Zoom Standard Pro plans will be able to set up email accounts through the platform, and folks with certain plans have the option to use custom domains. You'll get up to 100GB of storage included. The key selling point is that messages sent directly between Zoom Mail Service users (i.e. those who use Zoom's email hosting services) will have end-to-end encryption. You'll also be able to send external emails that can expire and contain access-restricted links.

Zoom

As for Zoom Calendar, there will be options to see which of your contacts has joined a meeting, and you can schedule Zoom voice and video calls in the app. Zoom's own calendar service will include the ability to book appointments.

On the way in 2023 is a feature called Zoom Spots. The company describes this as a virtual coworking space where colleagues can stay more connected during the workday via video-first conversations. While the company didn't reveal too much detail about Zoom Spots in its blog post, there may be a downside as the feature could enable bosses to keep a closer eye on what their employees are doing.

Zoom

Businesses will soon be able to employ Zoom Virtual Agent, a conversational AI and chatbot designed to help customers resolve issues. That tool will be available in early 2023. Other things in the pipeline include a way for developers to make money from the Zoom Apps Marketplace and a virtual coach to help sellers perfect their pitches.

As for the core functions people know Zoom for, there's a feature on the way that connects team chats with in-meeting chats. You'll be able to carry the conversation from one to the other and back again to keep things flowing. The company is also looking to roll out translation options for team chats in 2023. In the near future, you'll be able to schedule a chat message to send at a later time.

Zoom Phone is coming to the web, which should be handy for many folks. A progressive web app will be available for ChromeOS too. Meanwhile, users will be able to use a one-click chat message as a response when they can't answer a call. As for Zoom Rooms, there will be a way for folks in one of those to join a Google Meet room and vice versa.

Last, but by no means least, Zoom revealed a string of updates for meetings. The Smart Recordings feature uses AI to generate summaries, next steps and chapters to make archived meetings more digestible and help you get to the part you're looking for. There will be meeting templates that can automatically configure the right settings and a way to record videos with narration and screensharing that you can send to colleagues. On top of that, you'll have more avatar options, including the ability to use a Meta avatar.

Zoom

Alphabet's Wing division has teamed up with DoorDash to deliver some convenience and grocery items — such as pantry staples, snacks and household essentials — by drone. Customers can place an order through the "DoorDash Air" section of the DoorDash app and receive their items in as little as 15 minutes. 

When they check out, users will need to select a delivery spot for the drone to drop off their package. The DoorDash app will ask them to confirm that the drop zone is clear before the user completes the order.

Wing/DoorDash

The pilot is live in Logan, Australia, where Wing has been testing its services for a few years. DoorDash drone deliveries are only available to a small number of households for now, but availability will be expanded in the coming months. The drones can carry a payload of just over a kilogram, DoorDash said.

This is a big step for Wing, as it marks the first time that the company's services have been accessible through a third-party app. DoorDash employed Wing's new API to make the integration work. Until now, the Wing Delivery App has been the main way for customers to order and receive items via the company's drones. 

Wing says it has been working on a way to offer third-party app integration for some time. “We see this new functionality as a logical step on this journey to make drone delivery a plug-and-play option for more businesses and consumers — no matter what app they use,” Wing wrote in a blog post.

Wing has been expanding its footprint in recent months. The company announced last month that its drone delivery service was coming to Ireland imminently. It's also operating in Christiansburg, Virginia and Helsinki, Finland.

Play just about any big competitive online game for long enough and you'll surely run into some toxic players who say offensive things in voice or text chat. Activision is doing a bit more to take on those jerks with more in-depth moderation tools in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II and Call of Duty Warzone 2.0.

When they confirm a player has engaged in toxic voice or text chat, the games' moderation teams now have the option to mute that person in all chat channels. So, while their remarks might not warrant a complete ban, players who abuse in-game chat might find themselves silenced. Activision will still rely on users to flag disruptive players through in-game reports. Riot Games, on the other hand, has started proactively monitoring Valorant voice chat for toxicity.

Before they start playing Modern Warfare II or Warzone 2.0, players have to read and agree to a code of conduct. This includes an acknowledgement that they won't engage in bullying or harassment, nor make any bigoted comments.

In addition, when you report a troublesome Call of Duty player, you'll be able to add more context. The reporting system now includes a dialog box, where you can explain what happened in more detail. Activision says it will use these tools in all future Call of Duty titles.

These moderation tools aren't particularly novel. For one thing, Overwatch has long allowed players to type in their reasons for reporting someone. However, Modern Warfare II is already one of the biggest games around, having racked up over $1 billion in sales in just 10 days. There's no doubt that Warzone 2.0 will also have a large player base after that game goes live on November 16th. Having better moderation tools to clamp down on disruptive cretins and offer a more positive experience for other players is rarely a bad thing.

Booking a stay through Airbnb can be a chore for a few reasons. Chief among those is the fact it's not always easy to tell at a glance how much you'll pay for your vacation rental, since the cleaning fee or security deposit may not appear until after you click on a listing. However, Airbnb is at last set to make pricing a bit more transparent.

CEO Brian Chesky wrote on Twitter that, starting next month, the company will offer the option to see the full price of a stay in search results, and on the map, price filter and listings pages. You'll still be able to see a breakdown of the full price, including Airbnb's service fee and any discounts. Moreover, Chesky says Airbnb will prioritize total price rather than nightly price in its ranking algorithm. "The highest quality homes with the best total prices will rank higher in search results," Chesky said.

This is by and large a positive move, since the per-night prices shown in search results don't tell the whole story. Hosts may charge different cleaning fees or even fees for extra guests that aren't immediately apparent. Showing (almost) the full price upfront should make it easier for folks to compare listings while reducing sticker shock at checkout.

There is one drawback, though. The price that you see in search results and on the map still doesn't include taxes. It would be helpful to see that at the jump as well, particularly given that many hotel booking sites show the full price with taxes included in search results. "Our thinking was that since prices in the US are typically displayed pre-tax, that we should go with this convention," Chesky wrote.

Elsewhere, Chesky said that Airbnb will offer hosts more pricing and discount tools. He noted that hosts want a clearer understanding of the full price users pay and what they should charge to help them stay competitive. Chesky added that users shouldn't have to undertake "unreasonable" checkout tasks like vacuuming or stripping the bedding. He noted that simple actions like turning off lights, chucking food in the trash and locking doors are reasonable, and that hosts should communicate those kinds of checkout requests before a booking is made.

Folks who access Xbox Cloud Gaming through a browser on ChromeOS and Linux systems (including Steam Deck) will likely now have an improved experience. The game-streaming service should be available at a higher resolution on those platforms. It should run more smoothly as well.

As spotted by Windows Central, an Xbox employee who goes by CohenJordan wrote on Reddit that the update marks the end of a transition to a different type of streaming tech, though they didn't explain exactly what that entails. According to CohenJordan, the good news is that, if you use a browser to access Xbox Cloud Gaming on any device (such as iOS), you should have a more consistent experience.

Along with Linux and ChromeOS, Xbox Cloud Gaming (which is still in beta) works on Xbox consoles, smartphones, tablets, computers and some smart TVs. Microsoft and Meta are bringing it to Meta Quest 2 headsets as well. 

Microsoft is eager for Steam Deck users to access Xbox Cloud Gaming. It hasn't released an Xbox app for the system (or Linux) as yet, but the company has published a guide that should help you set up the service on Steam Deck.

For many people, the list of their most hotly anticipated video games will include "whatever Hideo Kojima is working on." If you're one of those folks, you may be interested to learn that a video showing the Death Stranding auteur's next title seems to have leaked ahead of a formal reveal from his studio, Kojima Productions.

The video, which has been removed from Streamable for violating the platform's terms of service, shows a character who looks like Mama from Death Stranding. That character was played by Maid and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood actor Margaret Qualley. The character shown here navigates dark corridors with the help of a flashlight while an ominous figure follows them. Eventually, someone or something catches up to them. A game over screen is then shown, along with text reading "A Hideo Kojima Game" and "Overdose."

Reporter Tom Henderson noted that the footage was the same as the leaked video he described in June at Try Hard Guides. Kojima Productions seemingly asked him to take down the initial report — a request that Try Hard declined.

The presentation of the video is bizarre. The gameplay footage has a picture-in-picture view of a person seemingly playing the game, as though they are a Twitch streamer. Text reading "camera player 1" appears at the top of the screen, suggesting that this is from a playtest. The footage appears on a YouTube-style interface, indicating that it may have been stored on Google Drive. It gets stranger, because someone has filmed that footage offscreen. That version of the video is then played on a tablet, which, according to a pretty prominent reflection on that screen, is being filmed offscreen a second time by a shirtless person.

It's all very unusual. As Polygon notes, there's at least a small chance that the footage is fake, even though creating it would require a lot of effort from some prankster. Qualley's character model looks just like the one used in Death Stranding —which may indicate that Overdose is a direct follow-up to Kojima's last game. It's also odd to see the name of a game's creator pop up during a game over screen, though this is likely work-in-progress footage (though it's not impossible to imagine Kojima actually putting his name on a game over screen). 

In any case, we may not have to wait too much longer to gain more clarity as to what's going on here. Kojima has been teasing his next project, and he's a regular presence at The Game Awards, the next edition of which takes place in a month. Kojima is developing a game in partnership with Microsoft, but a Death Stranding sequel is reportedly in the works too.

If the reports and rumors hold up, Overdose will be the first full horror game from Kojima. The only horror project that the Metal Gear creator has released to date is P.T., an infamous playable teaser that's no longer available. It was designed as a proof of concept for Silent Hills, a project that was canceled amid Kojima's acrimonious departure from Konami (which, coincidentally, just revived the Silent Hill franchise).

Meanwhile, Kojima claimed this week that he'd received some “ridiculously high” offers for Kojima Productions. However, he has no plans to sell the company as he wants to retain creative independence.

Twitter will reportedly begin laying off workers on Friday, only a week after Elon Musk officially took control of the website. Around half of the company's staff members will lose their jobs, according to internal messages seen by The New York Times and The Washington Post. That's consistent with the previous reports that came out earlier this week.

Musk didn't waste much time in making personnel changes after taking over Twitter. His first act was to dismiss then-CEO Parag Agrawal and other members of the leadership team. Several other executives have left the company over the last week. In an email sent to staff members, Twitter said that it has to "go through the difficult process of reducing [its] global workforce on Friday" and that the move "is unfortunately necessary to ensure the company's success moving forward."

Twitter's offices will be closed on Friday, and all employees are asked to stay home and wait for an update regarding their fate. Those who get to keep their jobs will receive an email with the subject line "Your Role at Twitter" via their work emails. Twitter will contact people getting laid off through their personal emails with the next steps to take.

Since Twitter is now a privately held entity, it doesn't ostensibly have to answer to shareholders anymore. However, the company still needs to improve the bottom line. It's on the hook for roughly $1 billion a year in interest payments on the debt Musk saddled the company with when he bought it. In the three months to June 30th, Twitter posted a net loss of $270 million. So, it needs to make more money and/or reduce costs, and to do so pretty swiftly.

Some major advertisers are skittish about the new regime and Twitter is trying to diversify its sources of revenue. Musk plans to charge $8 per month for Twitter Blue, which verified users will need to pay for to retain their blue checkmark. The service will offer new features, according to Musk, with subscribers seeing fewer ads and the ability to include longer videos in tweets. Reports suggest the Twitter Blue may go up from $5 to $8 per month as soon as Monday. The company is also reportedly working on a plan to offer paid video posts, which it may use to monetize adult content.

Mariella Moon contributed to this report.

If you're an Apple TV user who was considering switching to Netflix's new ad-supported plan, it might be best to hold off for now. The more budget-friendly version of the service (the "Basic with ads" tier) currently isn't supported on Apple TV devices, including the new Apple TV 4K unit.

“Basic with ads plan support on tvOS is not available at launch but coming soon," Netflix told Variety. As spotted by 9to5Mac, a Netflix support page notes that you'll only be able to watch Netflix on Apple TV if you're subscribed to the Basic, Standard or Premium tiers. Otherwise, you'll need to access Netflix through a different device.

Netflix didn't explain why the Basic with ads plan doesn't work on Apple TV as yet, but it seems a bit of an oversight. It originally planned to start offering that $7 per month tier in early 2023, but it moved the timeline up to this month. It wanted to get out of the gate before Disney+ launches its ad-supported plan in December.

As of today, Netflix's ad-supported plan is live in the UK, UK, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, South Korea and Spain. It became available in Canada and Mexico on Tuesday. Beyond the inclusion of ads, the plan has some other downgrades from Netflix's higher tiers, such as video resolution maxing out at 720p (the same as the ad-free Basic plan), some content being unavailable and a lack of offline viewing.

Substack users now have another way to interact with their favorite writers, podcasters and video makers. The platform now has a chat feature, where creators can hang out with their subscribers and perhaps forge deeper links with their communities. "Chat is a community space reimagined specifically for writers and creators— it’s like having your own private social network where you make the rules," Substack said in a clear dig at Twitter.

The feature is only available through Substack's iOS app for now. You won't be able to chat with your favorite Substack writers and podcasters on the web or Android just yet, but chat will eventually be available there.

The company noted that creators can decide the tone and topic of chat threads. They can switch the chat function off and reactivate it whenever they like, and they can decide whether to open it up to everyone or only paid subscribers.

The first time that a creator starts a chat, a notification email will go out to all of their subscribers. That seems a little spammy, but at least it's a one-time thing. After that, readers will be alerted to a new chat thread only if they have push notifications switched on.

Creators have a few moderation options, according to an FAQ. They can turn off replies in a chat thread, delete replies and stop subscribers from posting images (readers can flag and hide explicit images as well). Creators can also ban users from chat threads and comments. However, it doesn't seem that there's a way for a writer to appoint trusted moderators to handle that stuff on their behalf for the time being.

Substack pointed out that many newsletter writers have taken to the likes of Discord, Slack and Telegram to chat with their subscribers. Its developers have been working with a group of writers over the last few months to simplify things with an in-house chat option. However, writers may not be willing to give up on external platforms until Substack has more robust chat moderation options. This marks just the beginning of the chat feature and other social functions on the platform, as Substack says more updates are on the way.

Square Enix has revealed that Symbiogenesis, an upcoming project that was widely rumored to be Parasite Eve-related, is actually something else — and it's centered around NFTs (non-fungible tokens). The publisher described Symbiogenesis as "its first digital collectible art project designed from the ground up for Web3 fans."

Symbiogenesis takes place in a self-contained world containing a large cast of characters that can be collected as NFTs. Square Enix says you'll be able to use these digital artworks as profile pictures on social media accounts, something you definitely wouldn't be able to do by simply taking a screenshot.

In addition, you can use your character "in a story that takes place in an alternate world where the player can ’untangle’ a mystery by completing missions that revolve around questions of the monopolization and distribution of resources," Square Enix said in a press release. That's somewhat ironic, given that the entire perceived value of NFTs is derived from artificial scarcity.

The publisher will start selling NFTs (which will likely be on the Ethereum blockchain) in spring 2023, alongside the debut of "a free browser service" on Google Chrome. The browser-based approach makes some sense. Symbiogenesis wouldn't make it onto Steam, which banned NFT games last year.

This is one of the highest-profile stabs at an NFT-driven gaming experience yet. However, the NFT market has cratered this year. Gamers have largely rejected NFTs too.

Last December, it emerged that Ubisoft had sold barely any NFTs in Ghost Recon Breakpoint, the first title in which it employed blockchain tech. A few weeks later, an Ubisoft executive claimed players would benefit from having a marketplace where they could buy and sell NFTs of in-game items, "but they don't get it for now." In April, Ubisoft announced that the game wouldn't receive any more content updates, effectively putting the game on ice and diminishing whatever value Ghost Recon Breakpoint's NFTs had.

It seems Square Enix is facing an uphill battle to make Symbiogenesis a success. It's not a surprise that the company is moving in this direction after announcing in January that it would invest in blockchain games. Square Enix sold off some of its more notable Western studios this year and it initially planned to plow much of the proceeds into the blockchain and other tech before walking back on that plan.

Meanwhile, Square Enix may have to try to placate fans who were convinced that Symbiogenesis was actually a revival of 1998's Parasite Eve. After the publisher registered Symbiogenesis as a trademark last month, some pointed out that the term means “the merging of two separate organisms to form a single new organism" — which is one of the foundations of Parasite Eve's story. While that connection is somewhat tenuous, it's hard to blame fans for beingupset and disappointed that the project is ultimately an NFT grift.