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Apple's plan to add touchscreens to its premium MacBook Pros is coming into focus. Bloomberg reports that when the new laptops launch this fall, they'll feature a Dynamic Island, not unlike Apple's iPhones, and an interface that changes depending on where you touch your Macbook's screen.This "dynamic interface" is reportedly designed to make the transition between mouse input and touch input smoother on Apple's new laptops. Bloomberg says that if users touch an onscreen button, the version of macOS running on these new MacBook Pros will be able to pull up a contextual menu "that provides more relevant options for touch commands." Parts of the interface, like macOS' menu bar, will also be able to enlarge to make menu items easier to select with a finger. Those tweaks are on top of the expected features from touchscreen Apple products, like smooth scrolling and the ability to pinch and zoom into and out of images, files and web pages. The only thing missing from these increasingly iPad-like laptops, per Bloomberg, will be a touchscreen keyboard, because they'll already have a more comfortable physical keyboard attached.To make these new laptops extra enticing, both the 14-inch and 16-inch touchscreen MacBook Pros will feature OLED screens for the first time, likely the reason Apple will be able to include a Dynamic Island-style webcam in the first place. Up until now, the company has offered OLED screens on its iPhones, Apple Watches and more recently the iPad Pro, but it hasn't brought the display technology to laptops. That could reportedly change with these new MacBook Pros.Plenty of Windows laptops include touchscreens, and Microsoft and its partners have incorporated dynamic interface elements in the past to make these touchscreens more natural to use with Windows. Apple is late to the party in this respect, but it's also potentially set up to succeed. Much of modern macOS already looks touch-friendly, and Apple's has expended significant effort making it possible to port touch-based iPad apps to macOS and develop applications across platforms. That, paired with the right interface, could make the experience of using a touchscreen MacBook nicer out of the box, even if it doesn't get rid of the awkwardness of reaching over your keyboard to touch a screen.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/apples-touchscreen-macbook-will-reportedly-have-a-dynamic-interface-231929456.html?src=rss
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Marketing and Advertising
1Password is increasing prices for its individual and family plans. The individual rate is increasing from nearly $36 a year to $48, while the family option will cost $72 instead of $60. In emails sent to users, the business announced that the new rates will take effect for users at their next subscription renewal after March 27. It's a sizable price hike, but 1Password hasn't been incrementally inching its fees higher every couple years like we see so often for streaming subscriptions. This is the biggest bump we've seen to its rates in several years, even though the company has been adding ever-more tools for cybersecurity, such as new phishing protections that rolled out last month. Even at the higher cost, it's still one of the best options out there for password management.Fortunately for those on a budget, we have seen 1Password offer pretty substantial discounts on its plans at times, often cutting the rates by as much as half. The company usually participates in the big deal sprees like Black Friday, but keep an eye out for standalone sales that might pop up year-round.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/1password-plans-are-getting-more-expensive-soon-213236400.html?src=rss
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Earlier this month, Discord said it would be enacting an age verification policy. The platform faced some initial concerns from users about turning over their IDs and personal information, particularly given how poorly similar policies have been going elsewhere. Discord announced today it will delay and make some changes to its plans in response to the ongoing backlash.The first change is that Discord is postponing the global rollout of its age verification plans until the second half of 2026. The company noted that it would meet its legal obligations in places where they exist, likely in those countries that have national laws requiring protections for younger users. But it will not begin the global rollout until it makes some amendments to the offerings.Discord will offer more alternatives to how users can confirm their ages, including verification by credit card. That should allow people to access age-gated content without sharing an ID or performing a face scan. "If you're among the less than 10 percent of users who do need to verify, we'll give you options, designed to tell us only your age and never your identity," according to a blog post credited to co-founder and CTO Stanislav Vishnevskiy.The company is also promising more transparency about its vendors for these verification services and their practices. Discord said that it will not work with any partners for face scans unless the tests are performed completely on-device. The blog post noted that Persona, one of the common vendors for facial age estimation services, does not meet that standard and Discord has opted not to work with the brand. Finally, Discord is also building a new spoiler channel option so that servers with select age-restricted channels won't have to require all members to verify their ages. It will also publish a technical explainer on its own automatic age determination systems.We at Engadget have own worries about the wave of age verification laws happening both within the US and globally, but it's somewhat encouraging to see a digital platform at least trying to continue to deliver anonymity while still creating effective protections for teens.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/discord-delays-age-verification-to-address-user-concerns-205500482.html?src=rss
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