Washington: The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has put a halt to almost everything with the majority of people working from home and resorting to video calls to stay in touch with their co-workers.
Apart from the many challenges that one has to face while working from home, sitting in front of the screens for long hours for video calls can get really taxing. Are you one of them who has had enough of these virtual meetings? Well, fret not, a new application is here that allows users to escape the meetings without using false excuses.
A new web widget that goes by the name Zoom Escaper has been created by artist Sam Lavigne, which lets users choose from a variety of fake audio effects to sabotage their digital meetings, reported The Verge.
What’s even better about this widget? It’s free! Users can choose from barking dogs, construction noises, crying babies, or even subtler effects like choppy audio and unwanted echoes.
Zoom Escaper is super simple to use. All you need do is download a free bit of audio software called VB-Audio that routes your audio through the website, then change your audio input in Zoom from your microphone to VB-Audio, and play with the effects.
“Zoom Escaper is a tool to help you escape Zoom meetings and other video conferencing scenarios. It allows you to self-sabotage your audio stream, making your presence unbearable to others,” the website’s description read.
The interesting bit about this widget is that you yourself would not hear the sound effects that will be playing in the background. The other participants in the video call will be able to inform you about the annoying sound.
There is another application created by Lavigne called Zoom Deleter, this widget is less subtle than the Zoom Escaper. This checks for the presence of Zoom on your laptop and immediately deletes the application the moment it discovers it.