Clubhouse isn't just an app you can fire up to attend talks by famous people. It has different types of rooms you can use, including ones where you can have intimate, private conversations with friends — and in the future, you may be able to invite those friends to chat by "waving" at them. Jane Manchun Wong, who's famous for reverse engineering apps to find hidden experimental features, has discovered that Clubhouse is working on a new way to invite contacts to have an audio conversation. 

If the feature gets a wide release, Clubhouse will add a "Wave" button on users' profiles that looks similar to the Wave button you see when you first connect with someone on Messenger. Tapping on it will let a friend know you want to chat, and the app will only open a room for you if they respond. 

Clubhouse started out as an invite-only audio app for iOS wherein you'll have to join a waitlist to get in. Over the past few months, though, it released an app for Android and opened its doors to everyone. Famous personalities like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg previously used it a venue to hold talks in open rooms where users can host public conversations with listeners. This feature, however, might make it more compelling for more casual use and could convince users not to hop on another app when it's time to talk to family and friends.

Niantic is discontinuing development on Catan: World Explorers. Announced in the fall of 2019, the studio had yet to release the game officially, and it was only available in early access in select markets outside of the US. Later today, Niantic plans to remove World Explorers from the App Store before shutting down the servers that power the game on November 18th, making it unplayable thereafter. With today’s announcement, the augmented reality title will not roll out to additional countries, and Niantic has removed all in-app purchases from the experience.

It’s not clear what exactly went wrong with development but it appears scope creep may have played a part in Niantic’s decision to cancel the project. “We had a vision for trading, harvesting and building up the world in seasonal play and resetting the board each month, just like you do for each new game you play at home,” the company said in a blog post spotted by Protocol. “But trying to adapt such a well-designed board game to a global, location-based Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) game was a tough challenge."

Niantic notes that lessons it learned while working on World Explorers will go on to inform future projects. However, it’s hard to say what the cancellation will mean for the company’s other games. Following the runaway success of Pokémon Go, a variety of companies have partnered with Niantic to create similar AR experiences using their own properties. More notable examples include Hasbro and Warner Bros. Those same companies may now realize replicating the success of Pokémon Go may not be as easy as they initially thought it was.

Facebook has handed over virtual reality illustration and animation tool Quill to Iñigo Quilez, the developer who created the app. Quilez has formed a company called Smoothstep and rebranded the tool as Quill by Smoothstep, which is now on the Oculus Store.

The original Quill app will be removed from the Oculus Store on October 18th. It'll still work for those who downloaded it, but Oculus won't support the app any longer. Users will need to manually upload creators to Oculus Media Studio manually rather than through Quill as well.

Facebook says Quill content shared on Oculus Media Studio or Oculus TV will still be available on Oculus for now. The Quill Theater app will remain on the store — it will be renamed as VR Animation Player next month. The Oculus team also noted that Smoothstep has open sourced both Quill Theater’s IMM immersive content distribution file format (IMM) and an IMM player.

Quilez built the first version of Quill during a 2015 hackathon to aid production on Oculus Story Studio's VR short, Dear Angelica. The film was the first to be hand-painted completely inside of a VR environment. Other filmmakers have adopted Quill, with works createdusing the tool being screened at major film festivals such as Sundance and Venice.

Some major companies are expected to enter or push deeper into the VR and mixed reality space in the coming years, such as Apple and Sony. As such, developers of VR creation tools such as Quill have a big opportunity for growth in the medium term.

When Google launched Android 11 at the end of last summer, it added a feature that automatically resets app permissions. If you don’t use an app after several months, the OS can revoke some of the permissions that the application asked you to grant when you first installed it. It’s a handy feature that’s unfortunately only available on a relatively small number of devices due to the fact most Android manufacturers only support their devices with platform updates for a couple of years. Thankfully, that’s about to change.

Starting in December 2021, Google will begin rolling out that functionality to all devices running Android 6 (Marshmallow) and above, the company announced today in a developer update. The feature will come courtesy of a Google Play services update the company will roll out to “billions” of devices. Once you have the new software installed on your device, apps that target Android 11 or higher will have the feature enabled by default. For those apps that were built for older versions of the OS, you’ll have the option to enable it manually.

This is one of those small quality-of-life updates that most Android users should be able to appreciate since it can be easy to forget all the permissions you may have granted to an app when you first installed it.  

Microsoft will release Office 2021, the next consumer version of its productivity suite, on October 5th. That’s the same day the company will launch Windows 11. Much like Office 2019 before it, Office 2021 is a one-time purchase that will be available on both Windows and macOS. It’s for people who don’t want to subscribe to the company’s Microsoft 365 subscription.

Microsoft promised to share more details on Office 2021 soon, but we know from reporting by The Verge’s Tom Warren that the release will feature many of the same improvements found in Office LTSC, a variant of the software the company released today for enterprise customers who can’t access the Cloud. Among other improvements, it adds accessibility features and dark mode support. We also know from a previous announcement Microsoft plans to support the software for at least five years, and that the software will work with both 32- and 64-bit systems out of the box.

Microsoft says everyone can remove the password from their Microsoft account and use other methods to sign in starting today. The company rolled out the option to enterprise users earlier this year.

Rather than having to remember a password or using a password manager, you'll be able to use the Microsoft Authenticator app, Windows Hello, a security key or SMS or emailed codes. You'll be able to sign in to services such as Outlook, OneDrive, Microsoft Family Safety, and even Xbox Series X/S without a password. Microsoft is rolling out the option to everyone over the next few weeks as it gears up for the launch of Windows 11 on October 5th. 

Once you have installed the Authenticator app and linked it to your account, you can switch off your password. Go to your Microsoft account settings, then Advanced Security Options and Additional Security. From there, you can switch your account to a passwordless one. Then, follow the prompts and approve a notification on the Authenticator app to seal the deal.

You can re-activate your password at any time, but other login methods may be far more convenient and secure. Not only are passwords a cybersecurity minefield, they're time-consuming to enter and, at best, annoying to deal with.

It'd be welcome to see other services ditch passwords if they can offer users alternative, secure methods of logging in. Until then, turn on two-factor authentication wherever possible, and get a password manager and use unique passwords for all of your accounts.

Microsoft has just rolled out an update fixing 66 security vulnerabilities as part of this month's Patch Tuesday. One of them addresses a critical zero-day vulnerability that's being actively exploited by hackers using Office files containing malicious ActiveX controls. A few days ago, Microsoft issued a warning about the flaw after being notified by security researchers who discovered that bad actors are exploiting it by tricking potential victims into opening malicious Office files. Upon being opened, the file automatically launches a page on Internet Explorer, which contains an ActiveX control that downloads malware onto the victim's computer.

When Microsoft published the warning, it didn't have a fix yet and only asked users to make sure Microsoft Defender Antivirus or Microsoft Defender for Endpoint are switch on. Both programs can detect attempts to exploit the vulnerability. It also advised users to disable all ActiveX controls on Internet Explorer. The vulnerability known as CVE-2021-40444 affects Windows Servers from version 2008 and Windows 7 through 10. Security researchers proved that the exploit is 100 percent reliable, and all it would take to infect a computer is to open the file a hacker sends. Now, the new update will make sure the flaw can't be exploited anymore.

In addition to patching CVE-2021-40444, the update also fixes two other critical flaws. As The Register notes, it fixes two remote code execution vulnerabilities for Windows WLAN AutoConfig Service and Open Management Infrastructure.

Apple’s iOS 15, iPad OS 15 and watchOS 8 updates are dropping September 20th, days ahead of iPhone 13 lineup. The latest version of iOS adds new features for FaceTime and Messages, smarter notifications and a new LiveText feature.

With the update, iPhone and iPad owners can take advantage of FaceTime improvements, including the addition of spatial audio and noise reduction features to eliminate distracting background sounds, The revamped Messages app adds a new “shared with you” feature that makes it easier to track photos, music and news articles that are shared in chats with a dedicated section for shared content.

Apple is also changing up its notifications, with new tools to control how and when you receive push alerts. New “Focus” modes, allow you to tune out all alerts except for apps and people you specifically want to hear from, and you can set specific profiles for working, sleeping and other activities. These profiles can also change the arrangement of apps on your home screen based on the apps you’re most likely to use throughout the day.

One of the more intriguing features of iOS 15 is Live Text, which uses the camera to scan your surroundings and surface relevant information. If you point it at a whiteboard, for example, it could pull out the written text for you to share. It could also identify art, landmarks, plants and pets.

Notably, the initial release won’t include Apple’s new SharePlay features, which is expected in a later update. The company also recently confirmed it would delay iOS 15’s most controversial features: the planned child safety update that will allow the company to detect illegal child abuse imagery on users’ devices. Apple said earlier this month it was delaying the changes in order to “make improvements” to the widely-criticized system.

Follow all of the news from Apple’s iPhone event right here.

TikTok is adding new warnings to its in-app search that will alert users when results may include “distressing content.” The app has employed “sensitive content” warnings on individual videos since last year, but the updated alerts will appear in search results for terms that could include such content.

In a blog post, TikTok uses the example of “scary makeup” as a search term that may prompt such a warning. The company notes that users will be able to click through the warning to view results anyway, and that individual videos deemed “graphic or distressing” are ineligible from the app’s recommendations.

TikTok is also changing up search results to provide more resources on searches related to suicide and self harm, the company said. In addition to surfacing links to reach helplines like the Crisis text Line, the app will also point users to “content from our creators where they share their personal experiences with mental well-being, information on where to seek support and advice on how to talk to loved ones about these issues.”

TikTok

The app has at times struggled to deal with content related to self harm. Last year, a video of a suicide, originally streamed to Facebook Live, went viral on TikTok as the company scrambled to take down new copies. But even as users came up with workarounds to skirt TikTok’s detection, other creators posted viral clips urging users not to engage with the content. That suggests that TikTok’s plan to rely on creators to share positive PSAs could be an effective strategy for the company.

In the U.S., the number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. Crisis Text Line can be reached by texting HOME to 741741 (US), 686868 (Canada), or 85258 (UK). TikTok has published a list of resources for other countries.

One day before its next major event, Apple has released iOS 14.8, iPadOS 14.8, watchOS 7.6.2 and macOS Big Sur 11.6. All four are minor updates that don’t add new features to their respective operating systems but include important security fixes. As such, Apple recommends all users download them as soon as they can.

Depending on the update, it addresses as many as two issues. One relates to the CoreGraphics framework in iOS, iPadOS and macOS, while the other stems from Apple’s WebKit browser engine. In both instances, the company says it’s aware of at least one report where the vulnerabilities may have been actively exploited to execute arbitrary code.

On an iPhone or iPad, you can manually check for iOS 14.8 and iPadOS 14.8 by opening the Settings app on your device, tapping “General” and then “Software Update.” On macOS, meanwhile, open the System Preferences menu and then click on “Software Update.”