2Africa, a subsea cable project funded by Facebook and several telcos, will become the longest subsea cable system ever deployed by the time it's finished. The social network has announced that the consortium of companies behind the initiative has decided to add a new segment to the structure called 2Africa Pearls, which will connect Africa, Europe and Asia. 

When Facebook first announced the project, it said 2Africa will lay down 37,000 km (22,990 miles) of cables on the ocean floor. Last month, the company also announced that the consortium is extending the cable's reach to four more branches in Seychelles, the Comoros Islands, Angola and the south-eastern part of Nigeria. This new segment would bring its total length to over 45,000 km or 28,000 miles. 

As its name implies, the 2Africa initiative's goal is to provide internet connectivity to people living in Africa, which is currently the least connected continent. This extension adds landing sites in India (Mumbai), Pakistan (Karachi), Oman (Salalah and Barakah), UAE (Kalba and Abu Dhabi), Qatar (Doha), Bahrain (Manamah), Iraq (AlFaw), Kuwait (Kuwait) and in Saudi Arabia (Khobar). 

2Africa

In Facebook's announcement, Kevin Salvadori, the company's VP of networking infrastructure, said the full structure would serve more people than the consortium first intended. While the original 2Africa project was only meant to provide connectivity to 1.2 billion people, the addition of Pearls would allow the cable to serve a total of 3 billion people. He wrote:

"The past 18 months have highlighted the importance of connectivity as billions of people around the world rely on the internet to work, attend school, and stay connected to people they care about. We continue to invest in subsea cables in Africa and beyond, as communities and businesses flourish when there is widely accessible internet."

Google Meet's latest beta feature could help make video conferences with foreign clients, partners, students and employees go more smoothly. The tech giant has started testing live translated captions for the program, which is a step up from Meet's standard live captions. It will initially support meetings conducted in English that it can translate into Spanish, French, Portuguese and German. 

In addition, the feature's current iteration is only available for meetings organized by Google Workspace Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus and Teaching & Learning Upgrade users. Interested administrators will have to apply for access before the feature appears in their meetings. To enable it, users will have to switch on Captions in Settings and set it to English before toggling on Translated Captions underneath. They can then choose one of the translated language options.

Google

"Translated captions helps Google Meet video calls to be more global, inclusive and effective by removing language ability as a barrier to collaboration. By helping users consume the content in a preferred language, you can help equalize information sharing, learning, and collaboration, and make sure your meetings are as effective as possible," Google wrote in its announcement.

The tech giant didn't say whether it's working on providing translations for meetings conducted in Spanish, French, Portuguese and German instead. It also didn't mention a timeline for when the feature will become more widely available — we'll just have to wait for more announcements in the future.

Next month, Nintendo will give Switch Online subscribers the chance to purchase Sega Genesis games as part of a DLC pack with N64 titles. And to make the experience as authentic as possible while playing them, the gaming giant is also selling wireless N64 and Genesis controllers exclusively to Switch Online subscribers. The gaming giant showed off a three-button Genesis controller at its most recent Direct stream in the west. Based on a tweet by Nintendo Japan, though, it will release a six-button version in its home country instead. 

Nintendo has confirmed to Polygon that the six-button Genesis controller will be exclusively available in Japan. A Nintendo of America rep told the publication that "different regions make different decisions based on a variety of factors" and that the three-button model was the more widely used and more well-known version in the US and Canada. As the publication notes, the three-button model came first, and the one with six buttons was only released when fighting games boomed in popularity. Playing titles like Street Fighter was easier with more buttons to mash. Take note that the Sega Genesis Mini also launched with a three-button controller outside Japan in 2019, whereas the Japanese version came with a six-button model.

Even if you find a way to import the Japan-only controller, it may be better to wait until other gamers have confirmed that it works with consoles in your region. Nintendo doesn't have a release date for the three-button model yet, but it will set you back $50 when it becomes available.

Twitter says your new video uploads will appear less pixelated and have better quality. The official Twitter support account has revealed that the website made updates to fix its platform's poor video quality, which has been a problem for its users since the beginning. Twitter told The Verge that it removed a pre-processing step when you upload videos that's responsible for the issue. That step apparently splits the clip you're trying to upload into smaller chunks for easier processing, and that could reduce video quality.

The company told the publication that the changes aren't live on Twitter Media Studio, a tool that gives you access to all the media you've ever uploaded, yet. Also, while the improved video quality is expected to be available to everyone, it will only apply to new video uploads and won't be retroactively applied to old ones. Here's a sample of a new upload that's supposed to have better quality:

While some people said they barely notice any difference from before, others noticed less compression in full screen and quicker adjustment when you switch screen sizes. The quality still isn't comparable to HD videos posted on YouTube, but it does look decent enough. Back in 2019, Twitter also made changes to the way it uploads JPEGs to prevent lowering their quality upon being posted.

Apple hasn't published official subscriber numbers for its TV+ streaming service since it launched in 2019, but it may be smaller than analysts previously estimated. According to CNBC, the tech giant told the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees that TV+ has fewer than 20 million subscribers in the US and Canada. A few months ago, Statista published an estimate that puts the service's subscriber number to 40 million by the end of 2020 in the US alone. 

The firm admitted, however, that the estimate does not "necessarily reveal how many paying subscribers use the service." CNBC didn't say whether the 20 million subscribers the company declared were paying customers either. It also didn't mention how many of those got their subscriptions for free: Apple used to give away year-long subscriptions to customers who purchase new iPhones, iPads and Macs, but it shortened the offer to three months back in June. 

According to the report, having less than 20 million subscribers allowed Apple to pay production crew lower rates than bigger streamers. Under the current contract seen by CNBC, streaming services can pay their employees lower rates if they report less than 20 million subscribers to the IATSE every July 1st, because streaming profitability is "presently uncertain." The union is negotiating for a better contract, though, since current rules don't make an exception for tech giants like Apple. It also argues that streaming can no longer be considered "new media." 

An Apple rep told CNBC that the company pays in line with leading streaming services but refused to comment on the claimed subscriber number. 20 million is but a fraction of the number of subscribers the biggest streaming services have: Netflix claimed 208 million subscribers in April, while Disney+ claimed over 100 million back in March.

Twitter has been trying to limit the toxic replies you can get on its website by giving you tools that allow you to be more proactive in preventing them from going through. In the future, those tools could include a feature that lets you filter potentially offensive replies and another that lets you limit potentially unwelcome accounts from replying. Twitter Senior Product Designer Paula Barcante has released a sneak peek of the features, which are merely concepts at the moment, to seek input from users.

Barcante says Twitter will ask you if you'd like to switch on those controls if it detects potentially harmful replies to your tweets. If your reply filter is on, Twitter won't show you or anyone else — except the user who wrote the response — the harmful tweets it detects. If you decide to limit unwelcome accounts, users who've recently shown patterns of breaking rules won't be able to reply to your tweets at all. 

Since the process would be automated, Barcante admits that it may not be accurate all the time and may end up filtering out even respective, non-problematic responses. That's why the company is also exploring the possibility of giving you the option to review filtered tweets and limited accounts. Of course, the final iterations of the tools might look vastly different from these previews if they do get released. 

When asked if toggling on the reply filter would filter out all tweets from an account or just the tweet the website has deemed potentially offensive, Barcante didn't have an answer yet. She said what she showed was just an "early concept that requires testing and iteration" and that Twitter will provide more details if it decides to launch the tools.

A three-part documentary series on DC Comics is coming to HBO Max, according to Deadline. Warner Bros. Unscripted Television is producing the documentary, which will detail the influence and legacy of DC from the time it was established and the time Superman was born in the 1930s. The division is working with Leslie Iwerks (as co-director and executive producer) and Greg Berlanti (as executive producer) for the project. 

Iwerks is known for several other high-profile documentaries, including The Pixar Story that showed audiences what happens behind the scenes at the animation studio and The Imagineering Story, which gives viewers a look at how Disney develops rides and attractions for its parks. She will co-direct the documentary with Mark Catalena, who served as editor for The Imagineering Story. Meanwhile, Berlanti is a prolific writer, director and producer who'd previously worked on Doom Patrol, Supergirl, DC's Legends of Tomorrow, Superman and Lois, The Flash and Black Lightning.

Jim Lee, DC's Publisher and Chief Creative Officer, said in a statement:

"DC has a rich legacy of over 80 years of iconic storytelling: from the introduction of the genre defining Super Hero Superman in 1938 to the amazing movies, TV shows, cartoons, games and comics which have been synonymous with superheroism for generations thereafter. We are so excited to dive into this history and bring fans along this amazing journey."

The docu series doesn't have a release date yet, but it will expand HBO Max's DC offerings further when it arrives. WarnerMedia started migrating all DC Universe content to HBO Max last year, making the former streaming platform a comics-only subscription service.

You may have to update your brand new Apple device before you can use it to play music. As spotted by MacRumors, the tech giant has issued an advisory warning users about an Apple Music bug and advising them to update their devices. Apparently, people may not be able to access their Apple Music catalog and settings or use Sync Library if they restore their new phone or tablet from a backup. The bug affects the company's latest mobile devices, namely the iPhone 13, iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 13 Pro, iPhone 13 Pro Max, 6th-generation iPad mini and 9th-generation iPad.

Apple unveiled its new smartphones and tablets at an event in mid-September. The largest and most expensive phone in the bunch is the iPhone Pro Max, with its 6.33-inch screen and prices that reach $1,599. Compared to their predecessors, the standard iPhone 13 and iPhone mini models have smaller notches, batteries that last up to 2.5 hours longer and brighter displays. Meanwhile, the new entry-level iPad now ships with an A13 Bionic chip, promising faster performance than the previous generation. As for the new iPad mini, it now comes with a USB-C port instead of Apple's proprietary Lightning port.

The new devices started shipping on September 24th, and MacRumors says users have already started getting notifications for a software update. To install it, you simply have to go to Software Update under General in Settings.

Disco Elysium finally has a launch date for the Nintendo Switch over a year after its developer ZA/UM confirmed that it's heading to the console. The Final Cut version of the critically acclaimed title will be available from the Nintendo eShop on October 12th, with a physical release to follow next year. ZA/UM says the version heading to Switch isn't a port, but rather a "painstaking reassembly" of the game, with its redesigned user interface and font-scaling options.

The Final Cut version of the the game first became available for PCs, Stadia and PlayStation earlier this year. It doesn't just come with fresh playable content, but also full voice acting for the detective RPG. The hit indie open-world RPG is plot-heavy and features gameplay mechanics that focuses on dialogue and your choices. In the game, you'll take on the role of a detective trying to solve a murder case while suffering from drug and alcohol-induced amnesia. 

Disco Elysium was originally released for Windows in 2019 and has won multiple awards since then. Last year, ZA/UM and production house Dj2 Entertainment revealed that they're working to turn it into a TV series, though those plans will most likely take a while to solidify. For now, you can pre-order a digital copy of the game for Switch for £35 / US$40 / €40. You can also pre-order a physical collector's edition shipping in the second quarter of 2022 for the Switch or the PS5 for $250. The game is also expected to be available on the Xbox in the future, but ZA/UM has yet to announce a release date for platform.

Google has introduced quite a lengthy list of Android features, including new accessibility tools for the mobile OS that rely on eye and facial gestures. Starting this week, users will see a new addition to the Android Accessibility Suite that can turn a phone's front-facing camera into a switch. Aptly called Camera Switch, the tool replaces keyboards, mice and touchscreen displays as a device's input method. With the feature, users will be able to navigate their phones with eye movements or with facial features, such as smiling or opening and closing their mouths. The tech giant started beta testing it in August, but it's now giving the feature a wider rollout.

Google

The tech giant has also launched a new application called Project Activate specifically for those don’t speak or have neurological conditions. Its purpose is to make it easier for the users to communicate with other people. They can program the app to speak phrases like "Please, wait!" when they move their eyes a certain way or make a gesture with their face. The application can also be programmed to play audio, make phone calls or send texts, such as emergency messages seeking assistance. 

Finally, Google has updated its Lookout app with handwriting recognition. It can now read out handwritten and printed text for Latin-based languages while in Documents mode. Further, it can now recognize Euro and Indian Rupee in currency mode, with Google planning to add support for more currencies in the future. The tech giant first announced Lookout back in 2018 as a way to provide Blind individuals and people with visual impairments spoken notifications about their environment. Google added food and document scanning to its capabilities in 2020, along with support for languages other than English.