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Did Microsoft slip in sneaky Windows 12 reference at Build 2023?
It seems Microsoft is gearing up to unveil its next big operating system Windows 12. While the company has been keeping things hush-hush on when exactly we will get the new OS (or even if it exists), the next generation of Windows did make a cameo appearance at Build 2023, the company's annual developer keynote.
Of course, there’s been a lot of hype surrounding Windows 11’s successor, as users across the globe gear up for their PCs to get a fresh new look. During the Build 2023 developer conference, the company spent a lot of time showcasing upcoming Windows 11 updates, including teasing the fact the company is working on Windows 12.
During one of the keynotes, audiences noticed a screenshot that mentioned a session called “next-gen of Windows” during one of the keynotes and sparked curiosity in the computing world. The company mentioned “Next Valley Prototype Design”, which could be a term referring to Windows 12.
Big promises
Rumors have suggested that Microsoft is planning to integrate AI into the new OS to enhance how the operating system works, and we could see a floating taskbar rather than the classic one we use now, is in Windows 11 is anchored to the bottom of the screen.
We’re still likely to see the Windows 12 update sometime in 2024 (unless you want to pleasantly surprise me, Microsoft …) and the TechRadar crew are excited to see how Windows 11 will be improved upon with the new upgrade. We have high hopes for what we could potentially see, including ‘live’ wallpapers that’ll let you have moving and dynamic wallpapers on your desktop, and a push towards themes and more comprehensive customization options.
Overall, the buzz around Windows 12 is positive and we’re anxious to get more, less sneaky, looks at the new OS and how it’ll change the way we interact with our PCs. Microsoft has made many… questionable choices with Windows 11, so there are plenty of lessons to be learned and places to improve.
Microsoft wants to help you build a website with Copilot AI
Microsoft has added AI enhancements to its low-code website building offering, Power Pages.
Announced at its Microsoft Build conference, Copilot in Power Pages lets website developers leverage AI capabilities for copywriting and form building.
The new update to Microsoft Power Pages tool looks to speed up the time it takes website builders to generate text, build detailed forms and chatbots, using intelligent suggestions.
AI site building
Available in public preview now, albeit in North America only, Copilot in Power Pages aims to cut down website development time with features such as auto-generated tables in Microsoft Dataverse to create corresponding forms.
Also available in public preview, the update also includes a virtual table and Power Automate integration in Power Pages that enables cloud flow from web page events.
Read more
Developers will be able to leverage these AI-enabled enhancements in Power Pages to jump-start their journey of ideation and building of impactful, secure external website-based services to better respond and serve their customers.
First revealed at Build 2022, Power Pages also includes the integration of Copilot chatbot activation that includes generative answers within the setup workspace.
“You also have the flexibility to adjust, add, or fine-tune fields using natural language input. It’s a more streamlined approach to form creation,” Sangya Singh, Vice President of Power Pages, noted in a blog post.
“For your website visitors, this feature enhances their interaction with your site, allowing them to ask natural language questions and receive concise responses complete with relevant links to optimize both administrative functionality and website engagement experiences.”
Microsoft is working on adding other AI capabilities including page creation, site theming, and image generation, which is predicted to be available in summer 2023.
- Here’s a list of the best website builder services of the market
Expedia just added ChatGPT and I tried using it to build a fantasy vacation
A long time ago there were millions of these people called travel agents, wonderful humans who would listen to your idealized travel plans and then work to stuff them into reality, without losing the magic. Technology or, more specifically, the internet and myriad travel apps, have all but killed that industry, but the idea of a sensitive guide who can sort through the zillions of travel options remains. And it may be the inspiration for Expedia's new ChatGPT integration.
The online and app-based travel service announced the beta integration on its app (iOS only for now) on Tuesday and is calling it, naturally, “Conversational Trip Planning.”
Expedia's move isn't surprising, considering it was on the initial list of ChatGPT plugin partners, with the Expedia Group (which includes services like Hotwire, Orbitz, Hotels.com) announcing that those who use ChatGPT to launch natural language travel queries will get data results from Expedia and be able to use them to build a travel itinerary on Expedia.com.
The Expedia app's beta ChatGPT integration works a little differently from a standard AI session. While you can get a lot of conversational travel assistance from ChatGPT (based on the GPT-4 model, by the way), the app will only save the hotels you discussed to your app-based trip board. In addition, this ChatGPT will not be engaging in any conversation outside of travel. If you do try to ask a non-travel-related question, Expedia's ChatGPT is designed to “respond in a neutral voice” to bring the conversation back to travel, Expedia executives told us.
What it knows about where you go
Regardless of all the Expedia data backing up this ChatGPT integration, none of your personal Expedia profile is being fed to ChatGPT, according to executives.
“We marry our data and information with the response,” said Expedia Groups CEO Peter Kern, “We're not sending our travel and booking information to ChatGPT.”
Kern told us that you could tell Expedia's ChatGPT you want to travel to Paris this spring but even if you travel to Paris every spring, ChatGPT won't know that.
Even though Expedia's Conversational Trip Planning doesn't automatically save all your trip preferences to your trip planning board, it can help you figure out other parts of your trip plan. A query regarding a summer trip to Maui for two will tell you about hotel options, flights, weather, what to see, and more. It's just that the system is only currently looking for hotel tags, which it then picks up for your in-app itinerary.
Expedia is using the same data to power this new Conversational Trip Planning and the ChatGPT plugin experience.
The speed with which Expedia integrated ChatGPT may be startling, but the company is not particularly new to AI-enhanced trip-planning experiences. It already uses AI and machine learning to help personalize trip query results and flight fare comparisons. In that light, perhaps it's not surprising that the company managed to deliver this beta ChatGPT experience in a little more than a month.
There are some unknowns here. Expedia warns in its release that the conversational AI might still get things wrong or offer up an inappropriate response. At least Expedia already has an AI Ethics Committee to oversee the interactions.
As for which type of traveler might benefit most from the ChatGPT-powered Conversational Trip Planner, Kern is unsure. “Is it suited to a particular type of traveler? Our view is, we don’t know.”
The English-only app update is available now on iOS devices.
Hands on with the Expedia's beta Conversational Trip Planner
Expedia gave me early access to the new Conversational Trip Planner. I decided to use it to help me plan a fictional summertime trip with my wife to the Amalfi coast.
My exact query was: I want to book a romantic trip for two to Italy's Amalfi coast. We'd like to travel in the summer and stay near the coast (not on the coast, since that would be too expensive). I'm also hoping for affordable flights and some ideas about what to do while I'm there.
Expedia's ChatGPT only took a moment to offer up four hotel options, including Hotel Belvedere, which is located in Praiano and includes views of the sea. I also got a nice list of things to do that includes visiting Ravello and the gardens at Villa Cimbrone.
The chatbot also let me know that it couldn't help me with booking flights, which I expected, but I was surprised that it wouldn't even show me flight options.
I then wrote, “This sounds awesome. How can I book the Hotel Belvedere?”
Expedia's response was cheerful but instead of connecting me directly to the Expedia App with the Hotel Belvedere set as part of my itinerary, it told me that I could visit the Expedia website and search for the hotel using my travel dates and destination.
“Can you book it for me?” I asked.
Unfortunately, that simple question appeared to break Expedia's ChatGPT beta. I never got a response.
I also wanted to see how the Conversational Travel Planner handled questions that weren't exactly about travel planning.
I typed in, “Have you ever gotten into a fight on an airplane?”
That also didn't get a response.
However, when I exited my chat, the system asked if I wanted to add the details to my trip booking. The Expedia app saved my initial query and would allow me to search and add details on my own. However, it didn't save anything related to my preferred hotel.
I had a lot more luck on my second round of tests. I cut down my initial query to “I want to travel to Paris in the spring.”
Expedia's ChatGPT told me it was a great choice and asked if I'd checked out available flights and hotels. I told it to find me the best flights for May 2023.
Expedia's ChatGPT asked me for destinations, dates, and other requirements, which I provided.
ChatGPT returned with four flight options, all for less than $ 800 per person.
It then also helped me find a hotel with a view of the Eiffel Tower in my price range. It was even willing to help me book an evening at the Moulin Rouge. When I gave it a date, it returned with an available show time and offered to proceed with the booking.
Expedia's experimental Conversational Trip Planner can do a lot to help you plan a trip, but in order for me to truly save all this information, I'd have to cut and paste it into my Trip Planner.
Even so, it's a good start and I walked away wishing I really was planning a trip to Paris and an evening at the Moulin Rouge.
TikTok wants you to build your own AR – if you own a Mac
TikTok is opening its Effect House tool as a public beta for all creators and developers to try out and create their own filters.
The service was originally launched back in Fall 2021 as a closed beta with around 450 TikTok creators adopting it. That relatively small group published their own created effects, which have gone on to be used in 1.5 billion videos garnering over 600 billion views.
Learning as you create
Creating AR filters does require a certain level of technical knowledge. TikTok has provided a series of guides that people can follow to learn how to create a filter. There’s a guide on creating a Face Mask, Segmentation effects, and 3D Face textures.
And there’s even a guide on how to do effective lighting and shadows. It’s all pretty comprehensive, and the best part is that it’s all free.
When you’re done, you can submit the filter for the Trust and Safety team to look it over and approve it. TikTok has implemented a set of Effect Guidelines that everyone must follow when creating a filter.
The company doesn’t want any negative or controversial content. Examples include no threats of violence, drugs, sexual content, or hateful behavior.
Hardware requirements
You can download Effect House right now to begin creating, but there’s a catch: the app is currently only available for Mac computers. Downloading on your PC will not work and if you try to get Effect House on your Android phone, the website will tell you to use your Mac.
At least the Mac hardware minimum requirements aren't too high. To give an example, you’ll need a Mac that has an Intel Core i3 2.5Ghz processor and Nvidia GeForce 710 graphics cards. That's a relatively low-powered CPU, which leads us to believe that the discrete graphics is doing most of the heavy lifting here.
Some of the hardware listed by TikTok has been out for almost a decade, so as long as you have a relatively recent Mac computer, you’re good to go and ready to start creating.
There’s a good chance that Effect House will release outside on at least one mobile platform. In the Effect guidelines page, it mentions the technical requirements for the Android version. However, TikTok didn’t say when other versions will release.
And because Effect House is in beta, TikTok is asking its community to offer feedback if there are any bugs or problems.
TikTok wants you to build your own AR – if you own a Mac
TikTok is opening its Effect House tool as a public beta for all creators and developers to try out and create their own filters.
The service was originally launched back in Fall 2021 as a closed beta with around 450 TikTok creators adopting it. That relatively small group published their own created effects, which have gone on to be used in 1.5 billion videos garnering over 600 billion views.
Learning as you create
Creating AR filters does require a certain level of technical knowledge. TikTok has provided a series of guides that people can follow to learn how to create a filter. There’s a guide on creating a Face Mask, Segmentation effects, and 3D Face textures.
And there’s even a guide on how to do effective lighting and shadows. It’s all pretty comprehensive, and the best part is that it’s all free.
When you’re done, you can submit the filter for the Trust and Safety team to look it over and approve it. TikTok has implemented a set of Effect Guidelines that everyone must follow when creating a filter.
The company doesn’t want any negative or controversial content. Examples include no threats of violence, drugs, sexual content, or hateful behavior.
Hardware requirements
You can download Effect House right now to begin creating, but there’s a catch: the app is currently only available for Mac computers. Downloading on your PC will not work and if you try to get Effect House on your Android phone, the website will tell you to use your Mac.
At least the Mac hardware minimum requirements aren't too high. To give an example, you’ll need a Mac that has an Intel Core i3 2.5Ghz processor and Nvidia GeForce 710 graphics cards. That's a relatively low-powered CPU, which leads us to believe that the discrete graphics is doing most of the heavy lifting here.
Some of the hardware listed by TikTok has been out for almost a decade, so as long as you have a relatively recent Mac computer, you’re good to go and ready to start creating.
There’s a good chance that Effect House will release outside on at least one mobile platform. In the Effect guidelines page, it mentions the technical requirements for the Android version. However, TikTok didn’t say when other versions will release.
And because Effect House is in beta, TikTok is asking its community to offer feedback if there are any bugs or problems.
Microsoft Build 2022 could virtually share the upcoming Windows roadmap
Microsoft has set the date for its Build 2022 developer conference, May 24-26, and decided, for the third year in a row, to make it all-virtual.
While Microsoft's desktop operating system, Windows, is often the star of the show, Microsoft Build is the Redmond, Washington-based company's chance to unveil updates across a wide array of software products, services, and development tools.
There's also usually a theme. At Microsoft Build 2021, it was about Tech Transformation and the responsibility technology has in shaping the future. Aside from “Designed for development” and “What's next in tech,” the Microsoft Build site offers no hints about what to expect.
It does outline, though, one change: market-specific experiences for France, Germany, Latin America, and the UK. The FAQ goes into a tiny bit more detail, explaining:
“New for this year, experience market-specific content and connection opportunities for France, Germany, Japan, Latin America, and the UK in Regional Spotlights. Microsoft Build Regional Spotlights will include but will not be limited to: Keynote analysis, trending news, and topics for specific regions to help break down what’s new and what it means to you.”
What about Windows 12?
For consumers, this might be their first chance to learn about the next version of some of their favorite Microsoft products, including Windows, Office, and the Edge Browser. Developers will get updates on C++, C#, Azure, and Visual Studio. Microsoft sometimes blends in forward-looking panels on bleeding edge technologies like the HoloLens (version 3?) and digital twins.
As for what we might expect from Windows, there is some speculation that we could get our first glimpse of Windows 12. We know, Windows 11 isn't even a year old, but Microsoft's platform update cadence may be quickening. Plus, whatever Microsoft shows us now will likely be no more than a glimpse, with the full Windows 12 launch easily more than a year away.
Even if we don't see that, the multi-day event will be packed with Windows 11 innovations and future feature promises.
Registration, which is free, opens up in late April, and TechRadar will feature wall-to-wall coverage in May.
- Even as Microsoft prepares to tell us about all that’s new, it’s constantly working to make Windows better and more appealing for its 1.4 billion users.
Microsoft Build 2022 could virtually share the upcoming Windows roadmap
Microsoft has set the date for its Build 2022 developer conference, May 24-26, and decided, for the third year in a row, to make it all-virtual.
While Microsoft's desktop operating system, Windows, is often the star of the show, Microsoft Build is the Redmond, Washington-based company's chance to unveil updates across a wide array of software products, services, and development tools.
There's also usually a theme. At Microsoft Build 2021, it was about Tech Transformation and the responsibility technology has in shaping the future. Aside from “Designed for development” and “What's next in tech,” the Microsoft Build site offers no hints about what to expect.
It does outline, though, one change: market-specific experiences for France, Germany, Latin America, and the UK. The FAQ goes into a tiny bit more detail, explaining:
“New for this year, experience market-specific content and connection opportunities for France, Germany, Japan, Latin America, and the UK in Regional Spotlights. Microsoft Build Regional Spotlights will include but will not be limited to: Keynote analysis, trending news, and topics for specific regions to help break down what’s new and what it means to you.”
What about Windows 12?
For consumers, this might be their first chance to learn about the next version of some of their favorite Microsoft products, including Windows, Office, and the Edge Browser. Developers will get updates on C++, C#, Azure, and Visual Studio. Microsoft sometimes blends in forward-looking panels on bleeding edge technologies like the HoloLens (version 3?) and digital twins.
As for what we might expect from Windows, there is some speculation that we could get our first glimpse of Windows 12. We know, Windows 11 isn't even a year old, but Microsoft's platform update cadence may be quickening. Plus, whatever Microsoft shows us now will likely be no more than a glimpse, with the full Windows 12 launch easily more than a year away.
Even if we don't see that, the multi-day event will be packed with Windows 11 innovations and future feature promises.
Registration, which is free, opens up in late April, and TechRadar will feature wall-to-wall coverage in May.
- Even as Microsoft prepares to tell us about all that’s new, it’s constantly working to make Windows better and more appealing for its 1.4 billion users.
Torvalds admits he’s a bit worried about the next Linux build
The speed at which Linux developers are working on version 5.17 of the popular kernel has gotten the OS’ boss a bit worried.
In the weekly State of the kernel post, Linux creator (and the biggest developer) Linus Torvalds, said he believed the progress (or lack thereof) wasn’t caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, or “whatever crazy things are going on in the world”, as these things “don't seem to have affected the kernel much.”
However, the number of known regressions that Torvalds is claiming have been out there since late January have affected the development cycle. Although these “don't seem all that big and scary”, Torvalds did stress that some of them were reported right after the rc1 release, meaning they’re getting somewhat stale.
Linux “looks fine”
“I'd hate to have to delay 5.17 just because of them, and I'm starting to be a bit worried here. I think all the affected maintainers know who they are,” he concluded, before urging subsystem maintainers to make these regressions a priority.
Torvalds also seems to be extra careful not to cause any panic, saying “but on the whole, things look fine. Just a few remaining warts is all. But the more testing to verify, the better.”
Read more
Linux, an operating system that, in its early days, couldn’t stand next to the likes of Windows, or macOS, has grown immensely popular with the proliferation of mobile devices and the Internet of Things (IoT). An open-source Unix-like operating system, based on the Linux kernel, the OS now powers Android, the world’s biggest and most popular mobile operating system.
Furthermore, many IoT manufacturers have deployed Linux on their devices, as well.
However, some manufacturers are also moving away from Linux. Google, for example, is developing an entirely new operating system for some of its IoT and smart home devices, called Fuchsia OS. This new OS, which is still in early development phase, is based on a new kernel named Zircon.
- These are the best laptops for programming
Via: The Register