The fact that Apple is going to debut a new generative artificial intelligence (AI) tool in iOS 18 this year is probably one of the worst-kept secrets in tech at the moment. Now, another morsel has leaked out surrounding Apple’s future AI plans, and it could shed light on what sort of AI features Apple fans might soon get to experience.
As first reported by Bloomberg, earlier this year Apple bought Canadian startup DarwinAI, with dozens of the company’s workers joining Apple once the deal was completed. It’s thought that Apple made this move in an attempt to bolster its AI capabilities in the last few months before iOS 18 will be revealed, which is expected to happen at the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June.
Bloomberg’s report says that DarwinAI “has developed AI technology for visually inspecting components during the manufacturing process.” One of its “core technologies,” however, is making AI faster and more efficient, and that could be the reason Apple chose to open its wallet. Apple intends its AI to run entirely on-device, presumably to protect your privacy by not sharing AI inputs with the cloud, and this would benefit from DarwinAI’s tech. After all, Apple won’t want its flagship AI features to result in sluggish iPhone performance.
Apple’s AI plans
(Image credit: Unsplash [Omid Armin])
This is apparently just the latest move Apple has made in the AI arena. Thanks to a series of leaks and statements from Apple CEO Tim Cook, the company is known to be making serious efforts to challenge AI market leaders like OpenAI and Microsoft.
For instance, it’s been widely reported that Apple will soon unveil its own generative AI tool, which has been dubbed Ajax and AppleGPT during its development process. This could give a major boost to Apple’s Siri assistant, which has long lagged behind competitors such as Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. As well as that, we could see generative AI tools debut in apps like Pages and Apple Music, rivaling products like Microsoft’s Copilot and Spotify’s AI DJ.
Tim Cook has dropped several hints regarding Apple’s plans, saying customers can expect to see a host of AI features “later this year.” The Apple chief has called AI a “huge opportunity” for his company and has said that Apple intends to “break new ground” in this area. When it comes to specifics, though, Cook has been far less forthcoming, presumably preferring to reveal all at WWDC.
It’s unknown whether Apple will have time to properly integrate DarwinAI’s tools into iOS 18 before it is announced to the world, but it seems certain it will make use of them over the coming months and years. It could be just one more piece of the AI puzzle that Apple is attempting to solve.
Let’s face it, almost everyone could use a bit of help saving money these days, with the cost-of-living crisis and various inflationary pressures still kicking around globally, alongside other factors that can make finances a struggle.
I’ve certainly been counting the pennies here and there, but one area where I’ve slacked off is with web browsing. I have, of course, been aware that there are ways to save money using extensions for my chosen web browser – Chrome – but I just haven't got round to doing anything about it, or installing any of those helpful add-ons.
That’s all about to change. Read on to see the extensions that I’m going to enlist in an effort to save me a bit of cash over the course of 2024, in case you might want to follow in my footsteps.
Honey, I shrunk the price tag
Why haven’t I used Chrome extensions to help with online shopping before? It’s a good question, and one that I don’t have a good answer for. ‘Procrastination’ about sums it up, though.
Anyway, for money-saving, the recommendation from my fellow colleagues (TechRadarians, if you will) is that one of the most important extensions that I should make a beeline for is Honey (pun fully intended, in all its awfulness).
(Image credit: Honey)
What’s Honey? It’s an extension from PayPal that’s essentially an online shopping assistant, so when buying a product in Chrome, Honey will also scour the web for coupons for the best discount. These can then be applied and one way or another, I’m hoping I’ll save a bit of cash. Plus it’s possible to get cashback reward points on top, as a bonus, for those who have a PayPal account in ‘good standing’ (but only with participating retailers).
There will likely only be small savings here and there, but as they say, it all adds up, and over the course of next year I’m hoping to be a noticeably better off by the time the online shopping dust settles.
Camel companion
3 tips for saving money with your Windows PC
1. Power settings
Type ‘power’ in the search box on the taskbar and click on the option for ‘Power and sleep settings.’ In here, you can set your monitor and PC to go to sleep after a short while of not being used, making some power savings on your energy bill. 2. Power settings part deux
While in the ‘Power and sleep’ panel, check out the ‘Additional power settings’ link which allows you to specify more frugal power plans if you really want to cut the running cost of your PC (but remember, doing so will impact performance). 3. Tab taming
One of TechRadar’s best Chrome extensions, Tab Wrangler is great if you’re a tab addict like me. It automatically closes tabs that aren’t being used (but you can easily fire them up again), helping to save a tiny bit of power usage.
The Camelizer is another extension I intend to bag in the new year as a partner to Honey for saving money on my online shopping. It's widely used by the TechRadar team all year round, but particularly during shopping events like Prime Day and Black Friday.
The Chrome add-on is particularly handy for anyone like myself who’s a Prime member and orders regularly from Amazon – because it tracks historical Amazon pricing.
For most Amazon products, the extension serves up a graph of how its pricing has dropped, and risen, over time. That way, I can be sure of whether any item really is at a good price, or if it might be likely to drop a good chunk again (perhaps at the next big sale), so I can wait and save more if that’s a likely prospect. This extension also gives me the ability to have an alert piped through if a product drops to a certain price level – pretty nifty.
(Image credit: Future)
If you're in the US, the aforementioned Honey does also have a price tracking feature for Amazon. I live in the UK, though, and Honey won’t track anything but Amazon.com (US) pricing – so myself, and everyone else across the globe, needs an alternative.
The Camelizer extension (and another alternative, Keepa) are built especially for this purpose, and provide more detailed info on price history than Honey (including third-party marketplace listings, and second-hand prices for that matter).
Cashing in with cashback
Lastly, another recommendation given to me by TechRadar's online shopping whizzes has been TopCashback. The savings made with this service – in the form of cashback returns, as you might guess, on purchases – can really add up. I’ve seen the evidence of this, and don’t need any more convincing – moreover, the Chrome extension is a great way to access these benefits.
The idea is simple: a load of companies sign up with TopCashback and when anyone makes purchases from those retailers, TopCashback gives the buyer a certain percentage of cashback on the outlay.
With the normal service, the user needs to go to the TopCashback website and search for the retailer to see if they’ve signed up to the scheme, and what items might apply. It’s all a bit clunky, but the beauty of the Chrome extension is that it automatically checks any site visited and flags available cashback offers on products, which is much more convenient.
(Image credit: Future)
To get cashback, all you need to do is click the ‘activate’ prompt that pops up when buying something. This Chrome add-on also flags up some voucher codes as a bonus.
The slight catch with the extension is that not every retailer is supported. But most are, and the convenience aspect is what swings it for me. I don’t really fancy having to constantly navigate to the website to perform pre-purchase searches (and realistically, I’ll probably forget to do so half the time anyway).
I'm also going to risk the temptation of filling up my Chrome toolbar with more extensions than the three that I've mentioned (Honey, The Camelizer and TopCashback). While I'm aware that there are countless others (including Rakuten, Fakespot and more), I'll be starting the year with that golden trio – and if you fancy saving some money in 2024, you should too.
Google has suddenly changed the name of its file-sharing tool from Nearby Share to Quick Share which is what Samsung calls its own tool.
It’s a random move that has people scratching their heads wondering what it could mean for Android in the future. This update appears to have been discovered by industry insider Kamila Wojiciechowska who displayed her findings on X (the platform formerly known as Twitter). Wojiciechowska revealed that she received a notification on her phone informing her of the change after installing Google Mobile Services version 23.50.13.
In addition to the new name, Google altered the logo for the feature as well as the user interface. The logo will now consist of two arrows moving toward each other in a half-circle motion on a blue background. Regarding the UI, it will now display a Quick Settings tile for fast configuration, text explaining what the various options do, and an easier-to-use interface. There’s even a new ability, allowing people to restrict Quick Share visibility down to ten minutes.
Wojieciechowska states this update is not widely available nor is the Nearby Share change common among the people who do receive the patch. This may be something only a handful will receive. She admits to being confused as to why Google is doing this, although it appears this could be the start of a new collaboration between the two companies according to found evidence.
Start of a new partnership
Android Authority in their report claims Wojieciechowska discovered proof of a “migration education flow” for Quick Share after digging through the Play Services app. This could suggest Google and Samsung are combining their file-sharing tools into one. Or at the very least, “making them interoperable”.
If this is the case, two of the biggest Android brands coming together to unify their services could be a huge benefit for users. Currently separate and similarly behaving features might, if this is any evidence, coalesce into one that’ll work with both Galaxy and non-Galaxy smartphones alike. It's a quality-of-life upgrade that'll reduce software clutter.
Android Authority makes it clear, though, that there isn’t any concrete proof stating the two tools will merge. It’s just given the set of circumstances that seems to be the case. Plus, the whole thing wouldn’t make sense if it wasn’t the result of an upcoming collaboration. Think about it. Why would Google decide to give one of its mobile tools the same name as one of its competitor’s software? That might confuse users.
There has to be something more to it so we reached out to both companies for more information. This story will be updated at a later time.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen talk of effectively killing off the Cortana app. BleepingComputer reports about another Canary channel preview release that had the Cortana app and support for it removed earlier this year. The future of Cortana was originally announced back in June, when Microsoft first set out its plans to end support for the standalone app.
At the time, Microsoft wrote that support for Cortana would also eventually end for a range of Microsoft products including Teams mobile, the Teams display, and Teams Rooms, as well as ending voice assistance for Outlook mobile and Microsoft 365 mobile, in the later half of this year.
This is a big step for Microsoft which committed a lot of time and resources to Cortana, integrating it deeply into the Windows operating system and tailoring it to work with a number of Microsoft apps and products. It was, however, long expected that it may end up getting culled after Microsoft put out an announcement on its official support blog two years ago that support for the Cortana mobile app would end.
(Image credit: Microsoft)
The new kid on the block, Copilot
Cortana’s exit is happening to make way for Microsoft’s new central focus, its AI-equipped assistant named Copilot, which was announced at this year’s Build conference. Users were able to try Copilot after the Windows 11 22H2 update was released on September 26. Microsoft’s CVP, Yusuf Mehdi, stated that “Copilot will uniquely incorporate the context and intelligence of the web, your work data, and what you are doing in the moment,” and emphasized that Microsoft was prioritizing privacy and security.
After an optional update (or eventually I assume a mandatory update), Copilot will be turned on by default, with users being able to configure settings with Microsoft’s Intune policy or Group Policy (for groups and organizations). This was clarified by Harjit Dhaliwal, a Product Marketing Manager at Microsoft, in a Microsoft enterprise blog post.
As well as Copilot, Microsoft has told users how they can utilize its AI-powered search engine Bing Search and enable voice assistance capabilities through Voice access in Windows 11.
Cortana’s demise isn’t too surprising, as the voice assistant got a very mixed reception and saw a lot of criticism. Microsoft appears to want to have another try, and is clearly hoping that the AI-powered Copilot will fare better. Although Copilot has taken somewhat wobbly first steps, it’s innovative and has plenty of potential.
Windows 11 is about to get a drastically-improved Snipping Tool and revised Photos app. The most exciting new features include the Snipping Tool allowing users to copy text straight from screenshots, and the Photos app getting features like the ability to blur the background of photos.
This news has come from Windows Insider users (members of the official Microsoft community, the Windows Insider Program, for people who want to test out the latest developments to the operating system and help Microsoft improve it).
The Verge writes that Windows Insiders have been allowed access to updates of both the Snipping Tool and Photos app in the Canary and Dev Channels in the Windows Insider Program (two out of four of the channels through which Microsoft distributes previews). As a Windows Snipping Tool enthusiast, Microsoft certainly has my attention.
Microsoft has written in more detail about these new arrivals in two new update posts on the Windows Insider Blog (an official update blog by Microsoft).
A sharper Windows 11 Snipping Tool
The blog post presenting the nifty new text capture and recognition capability of the Snipping Tool (version 11.2308.33.0) introduces the new feature as 'Text Actions'. This will make it much easier to copy and paste or share text with others straight from a screen capture. You’ll have to select Text Actions in the Snipping Tools toolbar and then you’ll be shown all the text you can highlight, select and copy.
You can also manipulate text within the screenshot, like being able to redact sensitive information right in the screenshot using the 'Quick Redact' function.
Aside from the exciting new text capture capabilities of Snipping Tool, there will be integration with Windows 11’s Phone Link feature. It will show a notification prompt to open the Snipping Tool for markup of a screenshot, and allow users to instantly access and edit recent photos from Android devices with the Snipping Tool on a PC.
(Image credit: Sofia Wyciślik-Wilson)
A renewed Photos app
The Photos app is also being revised based on community feedback, Microsoft writes in the blog post about the Photos app update. The main part of the update is the new Background Blur option, which does what it says on the tin – instantly detects and blurs the background of a photo. It has further options with the Blur Intensity parameter and Brush Tool to select what areas you’d like to blur.
Another cool feature being previewed is a ‘Content Search’ capability for photos that you backup on OneDrive. This will allow you to search by content of a photo, I assume using some intelligent image detection software that can scan and label the photo with searchable tags based on what it detects in the image – much like Google Photos, which has a similar feature.
As well as this search feature, you can also search for photos based on the location they were taken. You’ll be able to do this in multiple places – your local files, OneDrive and iCloud. Yep, you read that right – iPhone owners can search their iCloud storage on their Windows 11 device with the updated Photos app.
Microsoft details how to use these features in the announcement blog post, along with some other fixes and changes to do with the Photos app.
(Image credit: Microsoft)
What about a video editor?
I’m looking forward to these features hopefully coming to Windows 11 soon, and can already see myself using them. There has been some controversy recently about Microsoft’s changes to the Windows 10 Photos app, which saw the removal of the Video Editor feature in a bid to push users to its newer video editor, Clipchamp. There’s a single bullet point under “Other fixes and improvements” that says:
“Edit and Create Video options are now easily accessible at the top of the gallery view.”
I don’t know what this means exactly with regard to the video editing functions in Windows 11’s Photos app, so I guess we’ll have to see what it looks like as testers try out the previews of these features.
Windows 11 again has a problem with third-party customization apps that are used to modify the operating system’s interface, with one of these applications clashing with the latest update for the OS.
That’d be the new preview (optional) update for Windows 11 22H2 (patch KB5028254), which as XDA Developers spotted has broken the Start menu for some users of the customization app ExplorerPatcher (going by reports online).
If all this sounds familiar, it’s because earlier in the year we witnessed issues with ExplorerPatcher (and StartAllBack) causing trouble with File Explorer (and nasty boot loops). This was with the Moment 2 update, in fact, back in March (when that was released in preview).
With this gremlin rearing its head again – albeit causing a different issue – what is Microsoft doing? Well, not a lot it seems. Let’s dive into why.
Analysis: Not our problem
Back in March, when these third-party apps became problematic for Windows 11, Microsoft said it would investigate the matter (as The Register reported at the time) and provide more info. What happened was that the developers of both ExplorerPatcher and StartAllBack released patches for their clients to solve the bug, and that was that. We didn’t hear anything else from Microsoft.
Now that issues have appeared again, it seems Microsoft has got fed up, and is washing its hands of the matter. As advised in a release health status update for Windows 11, Microsoft says: “We recommend uninstalling any third-party UI customization app before installing KB5028254 to prevent this issue. If your Windows device is already experiencing this issue, you might need to contact customer support for the developer of the app you are using.”
The issue is marked as ‘mitigated external’ which basically means it’s up to the developer (an external party) to fix it for their app (as happened in the past), and Microsoft doesn’t want to know.
In short, affected users only have two options: nag the developer for a fix, or uninstall the customization app in question.
Is that a reasonable response from Microsoft? In fairness to the software giant, it has previously noted that some of these apps use “unsupported methods to achieve their customization” and that this can produce weird side-effects. Given that the methods are ‘unsupported,’ Microsoft’s view is that it doesn’t have to take this software into consideration when updating Windows 11 code (especially if this is going to happen repeatedly, which seems to be the case).
We don’t feel that’s unreasonable of Microsoft in all honesty, but still, the response does feel a little cold and ‘not our problem’ in nature.
Note that KB5028254 is an optional update right now, so there’s no need to install it, and the upgrade is still in testing; you can simply steer clear.
However, this will become a mandatory cumulative update for August, and therein lies the problem – ExplorerPatcher users (and possibly those employing other third-party customization apps) could then have a broken Start menu. Hopefully, though, the developer of this app will have implemented a fix by then (because Microsoft certainly won’t, that’s abundantly clear).
Google and Microsoft have come a step closer to becoming amicable with the announcement that their respective calendar apps will become a whole lot more interoperable in a bid to keep users organized whichever service they decide to use.
A support page details how “users in both systems share their availability status so everyone can view each others' schedules.”
Furthermore, changes are being rolled out to how invitations are managed between the two rival companies.
Google Calendar and Microsoft Outlook interoperability
In its announcement, Google explains that “Calendar Interoperability is the critical component to help ensure events created in one calendar system are accurately propagated for guests using different calendar systems.”
Taking a move to recognize and support third-party services will inevitably work in favor of the company, with many individuals and businesses preferring to split their digital footprint between multiple companies, all of whom have their own merits and preferred use cases.
As part of the update, Outlook users who also have a Google Calendar with the same email address can receive Google Calendar invitations and RSVPs directly in Outlook without having to be in the Google ecosystem (which incidentally doesn’t have a dedicated desktop client). As standard, default reminders will also be created for Google Calendar invitations in Outlook.
On the flip side, non-Google Calendar recurring events are now hoped to be more “systematically and accurately” reflected in Google’s portal.
Unlike some changes, this is a Google-wide feature that applies to both business and individual customers, and is already available.
Having already announced other interoperability missions, like Meet and Zoom, it’s clear that Google is trying to broaden its appeal by more subtly integrating into third-party platforms, in turn giving customers a central ecosystem that they can work from with fewer limitations.
The AI chatbot race has begun in earnest – but one participant has already seemingly stumbled out of the gate: Google Bard. In the excitement and flurry of ChatGPT, Microsoft’s updated Bing, and others, Google announced that it will be participating with its own Artificial Intelligence offering, Bard, but an underwhelming launch event, followed by some mixed messaging, has left the search giant scrambling to catch up.
Microsoft debuted the newly ChatGPT-equipped Bing last month as an additional Bing Search feature. This is likely to try and capitalize on the impressive user sign-up numbers to OpenAI’s own ChatGPT tool, and drive users in the direction of Bing, as opposed to, say, Google.
Understandably, Google announced its own candidate – Google Bard. Now, leaked internal discussions at Google have offered some more insight into what Google Bard is supposed to be. According to an audio recording of a meeting with Google execs acquired by CNBC, it’s currently being developed as something other than specifically a search assistant tool. This is a notable difference from how it was first presented, including in Google’s own video of a demo – which did not inspire the greatest confidence in Google Bard after it returned incorrect information during the demo.
Not to be a ~well, actually~ jerk, and I’m sure Bard will be impressive, but for the record: JWST did not take “the very first image of a planet outside our solar system”. the first image was instead done by Chauvin et al. (2004) with the VLT/NACO using adaptive optics. https://t.co/bSBb5TOeUW pic.twitter.com/KnrZ1SSz7hFebruary 7, 2023
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Confused messaging
This initial roll-out and subsequent internal messaging are somewhat at odds. In the above-mentioned meeting, executives answered questions from Google’s internal forum, most of which had to do with Bard. The product lead for Bard, Jack Krawczyk, answered one of these questions, which asked if search is the most appropriate purpose for tools such as Bard and ChatGPT.
This is a valid question because while they are large language text models (LLMs) that produce convincing and relatable human-sounding text, they do not ensure that their output is fact-based.
Jack Krawczyk responded with “Bard is not search.” He elaborated that Bard is an experimental product, and is more of a “sparkplug for imagination,” to help “explore your curiosity.” He did add that Google could not stop users from using Bard for search, but his emphasis is clear that this will not be its primary role and that if you want to search, that is what Google Search is for.
Elizabeth Reid, vice president of engineering for search at Google, backed Krawczyk up, echoing that Bard will be separate from search and that Google wants to “keep the heart of what search is.” She did add, however, that Google did have a prolific history of using large language models in search, perhaps indicating that Bard could become one of them.
Again, this is a slight departure from the lead-up to the announcement of Bard, which stated that Bard was being developed so that it could be integrated into Google search, and that there was a great amount of emphasis on this in the initial strategy. Several unnamed Google employees have said that this change in messaging has left them confused and that they found executives’ messaging inconsistent.
(Image credit: Shutterstock / Sundry Photography)
While Wall Street has not been too impressed with this mixed messaging (Google’s stock has dropped since Bard was announced), this is not necessarily all bad.
We are at the beginning stages of this technology, so in my opinion, caution is warranted and adherence to as much feedback as possible is sensible. Following Bard’s announcement, Google’s company leaders insisted that employees test Bard and revise wrong answers, quoting a “great responsibility to get it right.”
The position of ‘first out of the gate’ has already been taken, and interest in AI chatbots is bound to last for some time, so taking time to make sure it releases in the best possible state is a wise move Still, it’s hard to say when Bard will premiere exactly, as Google employees themselves are seemingly surprised by its current development.
Google’s present leadership has been under some scrutiny, especially for the recent Bard introduction, and nobody wants to show their long-term development cards. As Google has a monopoly in the search game, its AI chatbot is perhaps the most hotly anticipated, but as we have already seen, the slightest misstep can have big ramifications.
I have no doubt Google will try to avoid this happening again, but the sooner it gives more clarity to both potential users and its own employees, the faster it can catch up – and even overtake – its competition in the AI chatbot space. After all, Google is more used to leading the pack, than following it
Scratchy, low quality virtual backgrounds have been a staple of video conferences at work since the Covid-19 pandemic began, but, from April 2023, Microsoft Teams will have a solution, in the form of green screen support.
Artificial intelligence is at the point where software such as NVIDIA Broadcast and Google Meet can support virtual backgrounds and blur effects without any additional software or hardware, but for maximum quality, a green screen works wonders.
How? In the Microsoft 365 roadmap listing for the planned feature, Microsoft says that “Green screen improves the sharpness and definition of the virtual background effect around your face, head, ears, and hair. It also allows you to show a prop or other object in your hand to be more visible to other participants in a call.”
Teams green screen
Having a real, physical green screen behind you during your 9-5 is slightly more embarrassing than pretending you’re at the beach or a revolting strawberry, but there’s a good reason you might want to invest in one when the feature rolls out.
“The virtual background with a green screen,” Microsoft goes on to say, “provides the best virtual background effect, consuming fewer system resources, allowing your Teams to run smoother.”
If your mobile workstation or business laptop is low-spec, and you’ve been having trouble getting virtual backgrounds on Teams to work well, a green screen could be the best way to get in on this often strange and terrifying feature.
And if you’re really looking to terrify (and terrorize) your colleagues on Teams, you could go one worse and set up a metaverse-style avatar.
You may recall that the watermark, which appears above the system tray, bottom-right on the desktop, was previously spotted in limited testing with certain Windows preview builds, but the change has now made its way to beta and release preview builds (version 22000.588) that Windows Insiders use.
Confirmed: 22000.588 introduces the “System requirements not met” watermark.#WindowsInsider pic.twitter.com/RrizjV2g8iMarch 15, 2022
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This was highlighted by @XenoPanther, a keen Windows tester on Twitter, and as the move is reportedly now widely deployed to Release Preview, it’s likely only a matter of time before the change debuts on the full version of Windows 11.
This would mean that anyone who has installed Microsoft’s latest OS on a machine that isn’t officially supported by the software will see the warning message. It informs these users: “System requirements not met. Go to Settings to learn more.”
Analysis: Get ready for more restrictions on unsupported PCs
This is no major surprise, as Microsoft has always said that people shouldn’t be running Windows 11 on a machine that isn’t up to the required hardware spec, and has even observed that doing so could ‘damage’ your PC.
A one-line warning watermark is quite annoying and intrusively placed on the desktop, but on the bright side, it could have been worse – meaning that Microsoft isn’t placing major restrictions on Windows 11 with unsupported devices, such as not allowing apps to run, or removing the facility to get vital security updates.
That said, Microsoft has always said that unsupported PCs won’t be able to get updates – even though they still can – but it seems clear enough that eventually, updates will likely get cut off for these devices.
If you have hardware that doesn’t meet the requirements, the idea of allowing Windows 11 to be installed at all is just to give you a flavor of how the OS works – not to let you keep running it permanently. And then if you like it, the theory is that you’ll perform whatever hardware upgrades are necessary (like, for example, a TPM module) to support Windows 11, or at least that’s the impression we’ve always been given.
So, in short, this watermark is likely only the first step towards clamping down on folks who are permanently keeping Windows 11 on unsupported hardware.
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