This week there are new iPhone and Mac features announced at the Apple WWDC, new Google Pixel phone features, new features coming to Google Meet video calling (at least for education accounts) and more. 

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You can learn more about the new Mac hardware here. My favorite announcement (as a non-Apple user): easily using your iPhone as a webcam. That would be very cool if Pixels and Chromebooks could work together that way.

Shared tabs in Safari, so you can share your browser tabs with friends, family or work colleagues.

Live Captions will caption audio live on FaceTime, videoconferencing, streaming media content, or phone call.

There are two new Google Lens-like features. Live Text translates text live from the camera. Visual Look Up lets you tap and hold on the subject of a photo, then lift it from the background to place in other apps. It recognizes people, dogs, birds, insects and statues.

Easily use your iPhone as a webcam for your Mac using “Continuity Camera”. Includes Center State, Portrait mode, Studio Light, and Desk View ultrawide camera that simultaneously shows your face and an overhead view of your desktop. (I would love to be able to use my Pixel + Chromebook like this)

Handoff in FaceTime lets you transfer your video call seamlessly from one device to another.

Smarter Mail detects missing attachments and has improved Search.

Messages on the Mac can undo or edit recently sent messages, mark as unread and when sharing a file choose to send the file or collaborate.

New iCloud Shared Photo Library is a separate iCloud library that can be shared between up to six people. 

Stage Manager lets you multitask on your iPad with overlapping windows of different sizes.

Safari Passkeys are designed to replace passwords. They use biometric verification and sync across Apple devices with end-to-end encryption. They also work across apps and the web, so you can sign in on non-Apple devices with your iPhone. 

New privacy tool called “Safety Check” quickly removes all access granted to others, signs out of iCloud on all devices, and limits messaging to just the device you are using. 

YouTube’s #MyBTStory challenges BTS fans to share their favorite moments as a Short.

June 16 is YouTube’s Beauty Festival, featuring many “beauty” (makeup) creators and shoppable videos. Everyone can create #WrittenInGlossier eyeliner challenger Shorts to create their own shoppable videos (but no, you don’t get a cut of the sales). Learn more. And if you are a beauty creator, be sure to watch this Creator Insider video featuring a content strategist reviewing up and coming beauty trends.

If you have a Pixel 5 phone (or higher) you can use the new Pocket Operator app to “shoot video content and turn it into fun music and video cut-ups.”  Mix sounds, visual effects and beats to make a unique video.

Chromebooks with ChromeOS M103 have a new screencast app that lets you record a video of your screen along with a video of you. Plus it has some basic editing tools.  (I can hardly wait to try this out!)

TikTok now lets you create a custom 3D avatar that you can feature in your videos.

Google Photos Real Tone Filters are now live on the web, Android and iOS apps. The filters are designed to work well across skin tones.

Google is implementing stricter policies around the purchase of financial services ads to prevent the promotion of financial fraud. Currently, advertisers of financial services in the UK need to be verified by Google. That is now being expanded to include advertisers in Australia, Singapore and Taiwan. 

Google Meet noise reduction is available on all Pixel phones, no Google Workspace account required.

At Google’s Anywhere School event, they talked about new features coming to Google Meet that will be helpful for education, including transcription of Meet calls directly into a Google Doc and livestreaming public events to YouTube.

Zoom isn’t just for video calling. There is a whole Zoom platform with Zoom Chat and Whiteboard. 

Direct Guest Join is a new feature that lets Zoom Rooms call into Microsoft Teams Meetings, and vice versa, without any additional expenses.

You can now set a custom duration for your “do not disturb” status in Google Chat, so that you will start receiving Chat notifications again after a specific time.

On Instagram you can now pin up to 3 posts or reels to the top of your profile. 

Instagram also expanded the use of its Sensitive Content Control to Search, Reels, Hashtag Pages and Recommendations. This lets you set how much “sensitive” content you will be shown.

Twitter shared a research study on how their “Want to review this before Tweeting?” prompts work. Andrew Hutchinson at Social Media Today has an overview.  About 9% of people seeing this warning cancel their Tweet, and another 21% revise their Tweet to either be less offensive or at least not more offensive.

You can now mark important tasks in Google Tasks with a star.  You can add new tasks by using Tasks on the sidebar of Gmail, Calendar, Drive, or Docs on the web, in the Google Tasks mobile app or in a Google Chat Space.

Google is using machine learning to make Chrome more useful. Some examples: detecting malicious websites, silencing undesired prompts, see web pages in your preferred language, and even adjusting the toolbar to highlight auctions most useful to you.

Patrick Radden Keefe writes for the New Yorker about “The Surreal Case of a C.I.A. Hacker’s Revenge”, which is a wild story that really doesn’t make the CIA’s internal hacking team look very good.

Dynamic World lets you see near real-time land cover data around the world. It can visualize events like snowstorms and volcanic eruptions, as well as changes due to climate change or urban development. More information.

You can get a “personalized” tarot card reading with a new interactive online site from YouTube. It features several tarot reading creators. 

Image: Assorted painted plates in Dubai. By Sanketh Rao at Pexels. Free to use commercially.