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Microsoft admits recent Windows 10 updates messed up the taskbar for some users – but a fix is coming
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Microsoft has acknowledged that there’s a bug introduced by recent Windows 10 updates that can break a piece of taskbar functionality – but the good news is a fix is in the works.

The problem is evident for some Windows 10 users when right clicking on a pinned app on the taskbar, when instead of seeing the usual context-sensitive jump list menu – that allows access to common features, like opening recent files – they get something entirely useless.

What Windows 10 produces instead is the ‘Open with…’ menu (that facilitates choosing which app you want to open a file with). That’s not only unhelpful but also confusing, frankly, though Windows Latest, which spotted this, notes that the bug only affects a small set of Windows 10 users – and it only happens with some apps, not all of them.

So, this isn’t something you’re likely to encounter, but if you do, it’s a rather annoying issue. Furthermore, it affects a wide range of recent updates for Windows 10 – not just the latest June cumulative update, but also the May cumulative update (and that month’s optional update), and the optional update for April too.

Windows Latest reports that Microsoft has pinpointed a fix and the company has indicated that the resolution will be included in a future update for Window 10 22H2.

Analysis: A quick fix, with any luck

Hopefully, with the fix identified, implementing it shouldn’t be a difficult task and we might see the cure in next month’s cumulative update. Indeed, if that’s the case, we’ll actually get it before the July update, as it will be in the optional update for June, which is a preview of the former. That should be here in not much more than a week, in fact – though there’s no guarantee the fix won’t take longer, of course.

In case you missed it, what’s interesting with Windows 10 is that Microsoft is not just fixing and patching the OS, but is actively developing it again, adding new features and recently resurrecting the Beta channel to test them. That’s despite the End of Life date for Windows 10 coming ever closer – the OS runs out of support in October 2025, in case you’d forgotten. So it won’t be that long before you need to start exploring the options you have in that regard.

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Meta secretly delayed my most anticipated Quest 3 feature, and we finally know why
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When the Meta Quest 3 was unveiled I was impressed by a lot of what it had to offer in both the virtual- and mixed-reality departments, but by far the most interesting feature was Augments – persistent MR elements that you can use to decorate your home. As we approach the one-year mark since the headset was unveiled, Meta’s CTO has finally explained why Augments haven’t launched yet.

If you've forgotten about Augments, the concept is they’re a mixture of functional and visual mixed-reality decorations. Some are just meant to look pretty or offer basic functions, like a clock, while others act as portals to your favorite games or quick access to your favorite apps. You can see a version of them in your VR Meta Home as the little pod that launches First Encounters.

When the Quest 3 was first shown off back in September 2023 at Meta Connect 2023 we saw a little of what Augments would offer, and a promise that they’d launch in the not-too-distant future. Now Andrew Bosworth, Meta’s CTO, has revealed on Instagram that back in January Meta “decided it wasn’t good enough,” and so the team decided “to go back to the drawing board.”

Bosworth explained that Augments felt too much like a toy rather than living up to what Meta felt it had promised and wanted to deliver. However, in order to improve the feature it needed to start from scratch with a “completely different technical architecture.”

As a result the feature has been delayed, and Bosworth didn’t provide any kind of timeline for when we might eventually see Augments in action.

With September’s Meta Connect 2024 fast approaching there’s a small chance we’ll see the feature again there, but I hope the next time we see Augments is when Meta is actually ready to it to the public.

A Meta Quest 3 user throwing a giant die onto a virtual medieval tabletop game board full of castles, wizards and knights

Mixed reality is good, but Augments could make it better (Image credit: Meta)

Over-promise, under-deliver 

Meta is developing a worrying habit of teasing updates and hyping up features that it then takes way longer than expected to release, or which don’t live up to expectations.

Augments are the latest example, but we’ve seen it take a year to roll out virtual legs, and oversell the metaverse way ahead of when it could feasibly work as described, while hardware-wise the Meta Quest Pro wound up being a disappointment compared with more budget-friendly offerings like the Quest 3 that launched not long after – with software like Batman: Arkham Shadow being released as a Quest 3 exclusive and skipping the Pro.

I think Meta is also doing a lot of exciting things in the XR space (a catchall for VR, AR and MR); it recently made Horizon OS available to third-party hardware makers, and I love that it gets frequent software improvements. But its errors stick out and if they persist it’ll be a challenge to trust the announcements Meta makes until the product is actually in people’s hands – either physically or virtually.

Going into Meta Connect 2024 I hope Meta takes on board the lessons it's learned over the past couple of years, and as we go beyond the press conference I’d like to see it be more open with its plans, and with obstacles it faces. Setbacks happen, but if a major feature is getting delayed maybe let us know when that decision is made, rather than leaving us in the dark for months.

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Report: The Apple Vision Pro 2 has been put on ice
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The Apple Vision Pro recently celebrated its first birthday, but the headset may already be losing momentum – a new report suggests that Apple has now halted work on its high-end successor.

According to The Information, Apple has “told at least one supplier that it has suspended work on its next high-end headset.” The reason for the move? A contributing factor is apparently that analysts and supply chain partners “have flagged slowing sales of the $ 3,500 device.”

That reported drop in sales is something we also heard last month from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, but it doesn't mean Apple is throwing in the towel on its 'spatial computing' headset. 

The Information's sources suggest that the company “is still working on releasing a more affordable Vision product” that'll have fewer features than the current model and will land “before the end of 2025”.

Apparently, Apple's original plan for its Vision line was to split it into 'Pro' and standard models, just like the iPhone. This move doesn't necessarily mean the end of that 'Pro' model, with The Information stating that “it's possible that Apple could resume work on a high-end Vision product down the road.” However, it could have major implications for the mixed-reality headset space.

Rumors have been growing about a high-end Meta Quest Pro 2 and a Samsung XR/VR headset, while Meta also announced in April that its Horizon OS from the Quest series will open up to new headsets from Lenovo and Asus. Given that the Vision Pro remains the flag-bearer for high-end mixed-reality experiences, this rumored move from Apple could potentially deflate the space and hit those projects.

A reality check for the Vision Pro?

Lance Ulanoff wearing Apple Vision Pro

(Image credit: Future)

We recently learned at WWDC 2024 that the Apple Vision Pro will finally be getting a global launch in several countries in late June, plus some cool new visionOS 2 tricks. 

That doesn't suggest that Apple is slowing development on its 'face computer' – and it's important to note that this report from The Information is still only speculation. But the decision would tally with other recent Apple moves, like the reported cancelation of the Apple Car project, and a $ 3,500 (or £2,800 / AU$ 5,300) headset continues to be a hard sell in economically challenging times.

TechRadar's Editor at Large Lance Ulanoff recently summed up the Vision Pro conundrum by stating, “I love Apple's revolutionary headset, so why do I hardly ever use it?“. The problems, aside from the price tag, are that its incredible capabilities don't make the headset lighter or compensate for the “plain weirdness of wearing a computer on your face.”

It seems that Apple's next move will be fixing those issues with a cheaper, lighter Vision headset sometime next year. Only then can it create the upgrade path to a Vision Pro 2 or a Vision Pro successor, which will hopefully be retrieved from the cryogenic chamber that Apple has reportedly placed it in – for now.

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Xreal’s cheap smartphone-like gadget solves the biggest issues with AR smart glasses
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Xreal has unveiled its latest gadget at the Augmented World Expo (AWE) 2024 XR industry showcase, but it’s not a pair of AR smart glasses – it’s a smartphone-like device called the Xreal Beam Pro.

The Beam Pro is a successor to the original Beam adapter, and it solves many of the issues I’ve had with this generation of AR specs – and it’s surprisingly affordable.

The upgraded Beam Pro is a whole new Xreal glasses attachment that’s compatible with Xreal Air and Xreal Air 2 models – including the Pro and Ultra. Simply connect it to your specs with a USB-C to USB-C cable and they’ll turn into bonafide spatial computers that run on Android 14 and NebulaOS (Xreal’s home-grown operating system).

You can control what you see on the Xreal glasses using the Beam Pro’s 6.5-inch LCD 2K touchscreen. You can also use the screen just like you would on a smartphone to manage Play Store apps and tweak your settings, and thanks to the dual 50MP cameras on its rear you can capture spatial images and 3D video at 1080p and 60fps.

Xreal Air glasses connected to the Xreal Beam Pro being used to watch TV

(Image credit: Xreal)

Best of all it comes in at just $ 199 / £189 for the 6GB of RAM / 128GB storage model, while the 8GB of RAM / 256GB storage model will set you back $ 249 / £239. Preorders are live right now at XREAL.com for the United States, United Kingdom, China, Japan, Germany, France, Italy and Netherlands; availability and pricing for Australia are TBC.

If you’re picking up the Beam Pro and a pair of Xreal glasses you can save on bundles, and those of you with a 1st-gen Beam can save $ 50 / £40 on a Beam Pro if you preorder one by July 10, 2024.

The AR accessory we’ve needed 

I’ve not yet had the chance to try out the Xreal Beam Pro, but it sounds like the AR add-on we’ve been needing for a while by solving a bunch of issues I’ve had with the tech when testing it out.

Firstly, finding compatible gadgets can be confusing. There are all sorts of compatibility issues thanks to hardware and software nuances that are confusing if you aren’t techy. While the original Beam was billed as a potential solution, it still suffered with compatibility issues because it couldn’t be used without a smartphone, while if you pick up the Pro and a pair of Xreal Airs you know you’ll have everything you need.

Second, it solves the battery annoyances I’ve had thanks to its two USB-C ports. The Xreal glasses (and other wired AR specs) can burn through your phone’s charge, and there’s no way to charge your phone and use the glasses at the same time. That’s not an issue with the Beam Pro, as you can use it and connect it to power at the same time.

Girl wearing Meta Quest 3 headset interacting with a jungle playset

The Meta Quest 3 has some competition (Image credit: Meta)

Finally, it seems like good value for money. Without any bundle discounts an AR glasses and Beam Pro setup costs between $ 498 and $ 648 / £528 and £638, which is a little more expensive than a Meta Quest 3. 

While AR isn't prohibitively expensive, it can feel like you're getting relatively little bang for your buck compared to XR devices such as VR headsets because of the aforementioned compatibility and complexity issues.

The Beam Pro gives you a simple plug-and-play option that’s a pocket TV and 3D camera and which doesn’t require other tech – just some subscriptions to the best streaming services. 

I’ll obviously need to try the Beam Pro out to verify Xreal’s bold promises, but if you’ve been waiting for AR tech to start feeling worthwhile, this is your notice to start paying attention to the space – and maybe even finally dive in.

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macOS Sequoia could soon spark your pawn addiction with its rebooted Chess game
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Mac fans are undoubtedly eagerly awaiting the release of macOS Sequoia, and looking forward to exploring its new features, including Apple Intelligence, iPhone Mirroring, and a whole load of other goodies, but an unsung upgrade has also been spotted – an update to Chess for macOS. 

According to a report from 9to5Mac, the stock Chess game within the developer build of macOS Sequoia has received quite a facelift, with new modern graphics, a fresh background, and more realistic textures for the pieces. 

You can also change the style of the pieces and choose between wood, marble, or metal if you fancy spicing things up further.

You may be wondering why it’s such a big deal to have updated visuals for Chess, but you might be surprised to learn that the game hasn’t been updated since 2012. So, it’s been a long wait, but at least Apple has finally turned its attention to the app, and made improvements for those of us who enjoy a cheeky chess game or two between emails on a slow workday. 

All just a waiting game

While the Chess upgrade and other nuggets have been spotted in the developer beta of macOS 15, it's worth noting that if Apple hasn’t explicitly mentioned a particular feature at WWDC 2024 or in other related announcements, there's no guarantee that it'll show up in Sequoia when it launches later this year. 

That’s not to say we don’t expect to see the nice new chessboard and pieces – we just have to bear in mind that anything that’s spotted up until the public release of macOS Sequoia has to be taken with a pinch of salt, and it could even be the case that even more improvements to chess are rolled out.

It’s definitely an exciting time to be a Mac fan, what with refreshed MacBook Airs still cooling on the shelves, and a whole new AI-powered macOS operating system in the pipeline – and for chess fans, this news might be the icing on the cake. 

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Runway’s new OpenAI Sora rival shows that AI video is getting frighteningly realistic
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Just a week on from arrival of Luma AI's Dream Machine, another big OpenAI Sora has just landed – and Runway's latest AI video generator might be the most impressive one yet.

Runway was one of the original text-to-video pioneers, launching its Gen-2 model back in March 2023. But its new Gen-3 Alpha model, which will apparently be “available for everyone over the coming days”, takes things up several notches with new photo-realistic powers and promises of real-world physics.

The demo videos (which you can see below) showcase how versatile Runway's new AI model is, with the clips including realistic human faces, drone shots, simulations of handheld cameras and atmospheric dreamscapes. Runway says that all of them were generated with Gen-3 Alpha “with no modifications”.

Apparently, Gen-3 Alpha is also “the first of an upcoming series of models” that have been trained “on a new infrastructure built for large-scale multimodal training”. Interestingly, Runway added that the new AI tool “represents a significant step towards our goal of building General World Models”, which could create possibilities for gaming and more.

A 'General World Model' is one that effectively simulates an environment, including its physics – which is why one of the sample videos shows the reflections on a woman's face as she looks through a train window.

These tools won't just be for us to level-up our GIF games either – Runway says it's “been collaborating and partnering with leading entertainment and media organizations to create custom versions of Gen-3 Alpha”, which means tailored versions of the model for specific looks and styles. So expect to see this tech powering adverts, shorts and more very soon.

When can you try it?

A middle-aged sad bald man becomes happy as a wig of curly hair and sunglasses fall suddenly on his head

(Image credit: Runway)

Last week, Luma AI's Dream Machine arrived to give us a free AI video generator to dabble with, but Runway's Gen-3 Alpha model is more targeted towards the other end of the AI video scale. 

It's been developed in collaboration with pro video creators with that audience in mind, although Runway says it'll be “available for everyone over the coming days”. You can create a free account to try Runway's AI tools, though you'll need to pay a monthly subscription (starting from $ 12 per month, or around £10 / AU$ 18 a month) to get more credits.

You can create videos using text prompts – the clip above, for example, was made using the prompt “a middle-aged sad bald man becomes happy as a wig of curly hair and sunglasses fall suddenly on his head”. Alternatively, you can use still images or videos as a starting point.

The realism on show is simultaneously impressive and slightly terrifying, but Runway states that the model will be released with a new set of safeguards against misuse, including an “in-house visual moderation system” and C2PA (Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity) provenance standards. Let the AI video battles commence.

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New Windows 11 bug is slowing down some devices by up to 25% and piling more misery on Microsoft
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Windows 11 has a bug in testing right now which is seriously slowing down processors – although Microsoft has said it’s on the case, so it should be fixed soon enough, with any luck.

The bug is present in test builds of Windows 11 24H2 – the next big update for the OS – and it’s caused by the Cross-Device Experience Host going wrong somewhere.

Neowin spotted that a number of users have said their CPU performance has been impacted – substantially in some cases – by the process. As the name suggests, the Cross-Device Experience Host (CDEH) is the functionality that links your smartphone and Windows PC to make it easier to achieve tasks like sharing photos from your phone to the desktop. (This runs alongside the existing Phone Link app, by the way).

There are reports of the bug in various places, including Microsoft’s own Feedback Hub and its Answers.com support forum. The slowdown reported varies, mind, with some folks saying that the CDEH process is eating something like 5% to 10% of their CPU – still pretty bad – but others are claiming 15% to 20% slowdowns, or even 25% in one case.

For the CPU to be losing that level of resources to a misfiring process running in the background of Windows 11 is a pretty dire situation, frankly.

Microsoft’s Jen Gentleman, who’s on the Windows testing team, has confirmed that there is an issue here, and that work is underway to resolve it.

Gentleman replied on the Feedback Hub: “Appreciate your patience, we’ve identified the cause and are working on a fix.”

Microsoft presenting Surface Laptop and Surface Pro devices.

(Image credit: Microsoft)

Analysis: bad timing

So, the good news is that a fix is inbound – and remember, you won’t be affected by this bug yet, not unless you’re a tester. The CDEH functionality is still in preview (in the unreleased 24H2 update) and not rolled out to all Windows 11 users yet, but it will be later this year, of course.

We’re also not 100% sure if the CPU draining glitch might be present with Copilot+ PCs, but it won’t be as far as we’re aware. Those AI PCs launch today, June 18, with a 24H2 build on board – but not the finished one. There are still a good deal of features missing from the version of 24H2 that debuts with Copilot+ PCs, and the full suite of features won’t debut until later this year when the 24H2 update rolls out to all Windows 11 devices – and this is when CDEH comes into play, we assume.

At any rate, the only concern for Windows 11 users broadly is that Microsoft gets a fix in place, which it surely will by the time the 24H2 update is rumored to land (around September 2024). Our worry would be if the fix isn’t implemented properly, and there are still some issues left around this CDEH slowdown – but hopefully that won’t happen. If it did, it wouldn’t be the first time a bug fix applied by Microsoft didn’t fully work, mind – and this would be a particularly bad one to slip through the net.

On an overall level, the timing of this revelation isn’t great. As mentioned, the launch of Copilot+ PCs – Microsoft’s new era of AI-supercharged computing – is happening right now, and Microsoft has just pulled its kingpin AI feature – Recall – from that launch following a whirlwind of controversy, and now we have a bug in Windows 11 which is causing some CPUs to run like treacle (well, not quite, but markedly sluggishly in some cases).

The future of computing suddenly looks a bit chaotic, going by the past week – and Microsoft will need to get its act together sharpish.

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Windows 11 gets a useful addition to the Start menu for a change –and some other nifty tweaks
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Windows 11 just got some useful new tweaks for the Start menu, albeit they are still in testing for the moment.

These came as part of the preview build (version 22635) that was released in the Beta channel late last week, which Microsoft added to over the weekend.

There are two main tweaks here for the Windows 11 interface, both of which apply to the Start menu and bolster it with useful functionality.

First off, Microsoft has added jump lists for apps which support them, meaning that when you right click on such an app in the Start menu, you’ll see a list of context-sensitive actions that you might want to take.

Think of these as handy shortcuts, so as in Microsoft’s example in its blog post for the preview, when you right click on the PowerPoint app, you’ll see options to immediately open files that you recently worked with in the program. Or for the Snipping Tool, you’ll be presented with options to immediately take a screenshot (or a delayed grab).

The second tweak Microsoft has made for Windows 11 testers, the one more recently added to this preview build, is the ability to drag and drop apps in the Start menu directly to the taskbar, or the desktop, in order to pin them.

Away from the Start menu, as regular leaker Albacore shared on X (hat tip to Windows Latest), there’s also been a change for the taskbar, although this isn’t in the Beta channel, but the Canary channel, an earlier testing avenue.

See more

As noted, there’s a setting that turns off the notifications bell on the taskbar, giving you a bit more space, and a lack of nagging, if you’re not a fan of that feature. Right now, it doesn’t work though – and as ever with anything in this earliest testing channel, it might not make the cut for inclusion in Windows 11.

Analysis: Better late than never

There are some small but useful changes here, and hopefully with the Start menu tweaks, we should see these coming through soon enough (possibly in the Windows 11 24H2 update, which is rumored to be set for launch in September 2024).

Mind you, the change for dragging and dropping an app from the Start menu to the desktop (or taskbar) should really have been in Windows 11 in the first place. This is another example of a seemingly basic piece of interface functionality that was left out of Microsoft’s newest OS for no apparent reason – drag and drop in the File Explorer address bar is another example of this.

These represent odd decisions by Microsoft which are constraining in terms of the interface and your workflow when you come over from Windows 10 (where these abilities are available). At any rate, at least these pieces of the interface puzzle are now in place, if only in testing right now.

Via Windows Latest [1, 2]

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More Android phones can finally talk to the Google Gemini AI in Google Messages
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If you’re on Android and starting to feel a bit jealous of all the Apple Intelligence hype then you should know that Google Gemini is making its way to more Android phones via the Google Messages app.

Using a compatible device you’ll be able to talk with Gemini, and use it just like you would any other chatbot like ChatGPT. You can draft messages, brainstorm plans, and ask questions about anything and everything – all from within your messages app.

Previously, Google Gemini’s Messages assistance was limited to a select few smartphones. Namely Google Pixel 6, Pixel 7, and Pixel 8 phones, or Samsung Galaxy S22 and later devices – including Samsung Galaxy Z Flip and Z Fold models.

These restrictions have now been scaled back to include any Android device running the latest version of Google Messages provided the phone has at least 6GB of RAM, and RCS messages are turned on. 

A few more hoops to jump through

A silhouette of a woman holding a smartphone with the Google Gemini logo in the background

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

You’ll also need to meet a few extra criteria that go beyond regular phone specs. You have to log into Messages using a personal account that isn’t managed by Family Link or a Google Workspace account; you need to be 18 or older, and be living in a country where the feature is available. Last but not least, your phone’s language must be set to English – though in Canada French will also work.

With all those hoops jumped through you’ll be able to enjoy Gemini’s assistance from within Messages.

To talk to Gemini simply press the Start Chat button and you should then see the option to talk to the bot at the top of the screen. If you’ve already started a Messages conversation with Gemini you pick things up where you left off from that message chain.

Just note that, as the app warns you your RCS chats with Gemini are not encrypted, and – as is the case for all AI – you may be sent back inaccurate information.

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Chrome on Android can now read the internet as a new update improves app accessbility
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Chrome on Android can now read as Google is rolling out a new accessibility feature called Listen to This Page to the mobile app, which gives the browser text-to-speech capabilities. 

According to the official Chrome help page, the tool can be accessed by tapping on the three-dot menu in the upper right hand corner and the new functionality can be found in the fourth section of the browser menu.

Activating the feature displays an audio controls panel at the bottom of the screen with a wide array of options. You have your standard set of tools like a progress indicator, a play/pause button, plus the name of the website and page at the top alongside extra controls that were seemingly inspired by YouTube. 

You’ll receive a 10-second rewind and a 10-second fast-forward option, plus the ability to change the playback speed. Users can slow things down to half speed or up to four times the normal playback.

Chrome on Android - Listen to This Page

(Image credit: Future)

You can push the audio player down to hide most of the controls. The only two things that remain onscreen are the play/pause button and the name of the website. Regarding the length of the playback, it depends entirely on the length of the article. 

For example, our recent article on DJI drones takes about 14 minutes, while our piece about The Lego Movie runs for almost seven minutes.

Overflowing with features

Everything so far is surface-level, but you’ll find more in the overflow menu. According to 9To5Google, this section allows you to disable the text highlighter and auto scroll functions. What’s more, it is where you change the speaking voice's language with 12 in total, including to pick from, including English, Spanish, Hindi, French, and Arabic. 

You can also alter the way it reads text to fit a certain style. For example, “Ruby” speaks in a mid-pitch and warm voice, “Moss” has a low-pitch, peaceful way of talking, while “Field” is more low-pitch and bright. 

The options deepen when you look at other dialects as well. With English, you have ten voices to choose from across four different accents. The American accent has the most options, with four voices on its own, while the rest just have two.

Availability

Listen to This Page will continue to work even if you go to other tabs as “the control bar will remain docked.” But, there is a limitation. This only works so long as Chrome is in the foreground. So, if you close the browser or return to the home screen, the text-to-speech function stops.

Listen to This Page flag

(Image credit: Future)

The feature is part of the latest Chrome on Android update, so be sure to install the latest patch. It’s possible you may not see the option in the browser menu. 

We didn't encounter it initially, although you can manually activate it. All you have to do is type in chrome://flags/#read-aloud into the URL bar and turn on the tool in the subsequent menu.

It's unknown if there are plans to expand Chrome's text-to-speech function elsewhere, but there is a chance Google will. A leak from September 2023 claimed Chrome on desktop will one day receive its own read-aloud feature.

Check out TechRadar's list of best Android phones for 2024 if you're looking to upgrade. 

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