Apple’s next-gen AirPods could respond to ‘Hey Siri’

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The beta version of iOS 12.2 comes with a pretty strong indication that you'll be able to use Apple's next-gen AirPods to summon Siri. 9to5Mac has discovered a new setup screen for the wireless earbuds within 12.2, clearly stating that you'll be able to talk to the voice assistant via the AirPods. While the earbuds you can buy right now don't support the feature, rumors suggest that Apple is developing a new version that can. The setup screen, as you'd expect, will give you a way to configure a new pair of earbuds to respond to your voice. According to 9to5Mac, the new AirPods themselves will be able to recognize the "Hey Siri" command, allowing you to summon the voice assistant even if your phone is in your pocket or your bag and without having to tap on the earbuds. Apple hasn't announced anything definite about the second version of its wireless earbuds yet. Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who's been historically accurate with his predictions, claimed last year that AirPods 2 will come with wireless charging capabilities, though. A newer DigiTimes report also said that the updated earbuds will have health monitoring functions and that they'll be available in the first half of the year.


Next version of Android might finally get a dark theme

Android Q, which is currently in the very early stages, has a built-in dark theme – and several other interesting new features – according to XDA Developers.

According to the report, the early Android Q variant that XDA managed to run on the Google Pixel 3 XL has a "fully functional system-wide dark mode," which can be enabled in the Display Settings by choosing "Set Dark Mode." Once enabled, it turns all the menus in Android to a pleasant white-text-on-dark-grey-surface color scheme.

This includes Settings, Launcher, Files, the volume panel and third-party notifications (note that some of Google's apps, such as YouTube, already have a dark theme). There also seems to be an option that appears to enable dark mode for apps that don't have this option, turning pretty much everything dark (even Facebook, though that particular app does not respond too well to this and looks wonky in certain places).


Facebook will shut down Moments photo app on Feb 25

Did you use Facebook's Moments app to handle and share your social network photos? No? You're not the only one. Facebook has informed CNET that it's shutting down the Moments app on February 25, partly because there weren't enough people using it. If you have a collection you'd like to keep, you can visit a special website before May 2019 to export your photos and videos either as a private Facebook album or as a download.

This doesn't mark the end to everything Moments represented. However, it does signal the end to Facebook's most direct attempt to compete with Google Photos, which offers numerous comparable features like automatic movie generation from snapshots.

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