Welcome to Bits, your daily tech news bulletin, for Thursday, May 20, I'm Seamus Byrne.Microsoft has announced a year long process for taking Internet Explorer off life support. In August, Microsoft 365 will stop supporting Internet Explorer, and on June 15, 2022, most versions of Windows 10 will officially put the 25 year old web browser out to pasture. IE arose in the '90s to beat the OG dominant integrated browser, Netscape Navigator. Microsoft Edge is already considered the new home for default browsing on Windows 10, and it will include an Internet Explorer emulation mode for those who really, really need one.https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2021/05/19/the-future-of-internet-explorer-on-windows-10-is-in-microsoft-edge/Meanwhile, at Google, the Chrome browser is soon to test the inclusion of a 'Follow' feature that will allow users to get updates direct to the new tab page from websites with RSS feeds. Yes, many may remember that Google killed its beloved Google Reader back in 2013, and now in 2021 it's bringing back an RSS Reader direct within Chrome. If you haven't been using RSS lately, it's still alive and well thanks to great tools like Feedly, though some sites have stopped offering RSS altogether, sadly. But not Byteside - smash that follow button when it appears in a browser near you.https://9to5google.com/2021/05/19/chrome-follow-rss-feed/Twitter has released the results of an investigation into whether its cropping algorithms had an inherent racial bias and found that it really did preference white people and women. In recent weeks, Twitter made a move to support showing the full image in a tweet instead of offering a crop at all, and it turns out this is because the company considered its options and decided no crop was better than sticking with an algorithmic bias in its cropping tool. Twitter's Director of Software Engineering, Rumman Chowdhury, said "One of our conclusions is that not everything on Twitter is a good candidate for an algorithm." Listen up, Silicon Valley.https://blog.twitter.com/engineering/en_us/topics/insights/2021/sharing-learnings-about-our-image-cropping-algorithm.htmlSpotify has announced a series of five pre-recorded live concerts set to take place every week for five weeks starting May 27. The concerts will be offered as a livestream only and users will need to buy tickets to attend the virtual performances, priced at $19 each. Bands include The Black Keys, Bleachers, girl in red, Rag'n'Bone Man, and Leon Bridges. It's an interesting experiment, and in similar fashion Zoom has announced the launch of paid virtual events to allow organisations to hold conventions and conferences via its platform, with ticketing and registration processes as well as multi-session planning and virtual lobbies for networking. The effort to make online events more like the real world continues apace.https://newsroom.spotify.com/2021-05-19/must-see-your-favorite-artists-perform-with-spotifys-virtual-concert-experience/https://blog.zoom.us/coming-soon-zoom-events-virtual-experiences/Apple has announced a wide set of software updates to expand its already impressive accessibility offerings for users of its products. Updates include SignTime, which will allow users to book a sign language call via video link for online shopping and support, and iPad eye tracking to allow for device control with eye movement. A new AssistiveTouch mode is being added to Apple Watch that will allow a cursor to control the screen via subtle muscular movements. And there's even a new Background Sounds mode to play white noise or other subtle sounds for neurodiverse folks who prefer to have distracting noises reduced. New VoiceOver support for images, and new Memoji to show people with Cochlear implants or oxygen tubes, plus more. All up a very impressive accessibility update.https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2021/05/apple-previews-powerful-software-updates-designed-for-people-with-disabilities/h...

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