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How to enable Voice Isolation for iPhone calls in iOS 16.4

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How to enable Voice Isolation for iPhone calls in iOS 16.4
iOS 16.4 makes it easy to block embarrassing background noise from your phone calls.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

The Voice Isolation feature that’s been making FaceTime and Zoom video chats better for over a year is finally available for regular iPhone voice calls. With it, the people you’re on a phone call with can’t hear noises going on around you.

Here’s how to activate one of the best new features of iOS 16.4.

Swanky Master & Dynamic launches its first gaming headset

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The MG20 gaming headset costs $450.
The MG20 gaming headset costs $450.
Photo: Master & Dynamic

Premium audio brand Master & Dynamic adds gamers to its client list with the release of its first-ever headset for e-sports, the MG20 Wireless Gaming Headphones. Of course, being good for gamers almost certainly makes these cans a solid choice for anyone wanting high-quality noise-cancelling headphones for music and communication, too.

Logitech gets down to business with Zone wireless and wired earbuds

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Aimed at business users, the Logitech Zone True Wireless Earbuds should be out in fall 2021.
Aimed at business users, the Logitech Zone True Wireless Earbuds should be out in fall 2021.
Photo: Logitech

Today Logitech launched two sets of earbuds aimed at helping professionals connect in hybrid remote and onsite workplaces. Its Zone True Wireless and Zone Wired earbuds are the first targeted for certification “by all three major cloud video conferencing platforms: Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and Zoom Video Communications,” the company said.

Here’s how crazy spam calls went in 2018

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Incoming Scam Phone Call
Spam and Robocalls are out of control and must be stopped!
Photo: Cult of Mac

It feels like spam calls have gotten out of control lately. With more calls resulting in sales pitches and attempts to scam you, people are answering their phones less and less.

A new report from call identification and blocking company Hiya shows just how bad these spam calls have gotten.

HomePod update will bring phone calls, voicemail, multiple timers

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HomePod market share
The new HomePod could offer a neat new feature.
Photo: Apple

HomePod is expected to get even smarter this fall when Apple rolls out a big software update.

A new report claims the $349 device will be able to handle phone calls, retrieve your voicemail, and run multiple timers. It could also give you the ability to search for songs by using their lyrics, and to translate languages.

Encryption iPhone App Slated For Release – PGP Rides Again

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Zimmerman

Phil Zimmerman, the creator of Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) encryption for email in the 1990s, has come to the forefront yet again as the spokesman for Silent Circle, a company planning to beta test an encrypted phone call and text message app for the iPhone and other smartphones. The app will be free when it’s released in July of this year, but the service itself will cost somewhere in the $20 per month range.

Zimmerman, long a proponent of technological solutions to civil liberties, thinks people will pay for the privacy.

“I’m not going to apologize for the cost,” he told CNET, “This is not Facebook. Our customers are customers. They’re not products. They’re not part of the inventory.”

That may well be the case, but getting consumers to pay subscription fees is notoriously difficult. Silent Circle plans to offer a solution for easily encrypted email, phone calls, and instant messaging to start, with plans for encrypted SMS in the future.

In addition to the iPhone release, Zimmerman told CNET that the company was planning to roll out an app for Mac and PC as well, but that it’s not ready, yet. They’ll focus on the mobile app first, allowing customers to communicate securely if they both have the app installed. If only one does, the information will be encrypted to Silent Circle’s servers, but not from there to a recipient’s phone.

This sounds great for most consumers needing to keep their legal communication safe and private, but it’s unlikely that lawmakers will see it the same way. It’s possible that Phil Zimmerman may yet again fall under scrutiny as he did when he released his first encryption product nearly two decades ago.

Via: Boing Boing

87% Of iPhone 4S Owners Are Still Using Siri At Least Once A Month [Report]

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Siri is still popular among many iPhone 4S owners, but not everyone uses it to its full potential.
Siri is still popular among many iPhone 4S owners, but not everyone uses it to its full potential.

For some iPhone 4S users, Siri is a novelty that quickly wears off within a week or two of unwrapping the handset. But believe it or not, 87% of iPhone 4S users are still using the intelligent assistant at least once a month, according to a new study. Not many of them are using it to its full potential, however.