Windows 11 could be getting a new change to give you an idea of how much power your desktop PC chugs through on a daily basis – and per app power usage data, too.
Or at least this is a new feature spotted in the latest preview build of Windows 11 (from the Dev channel), albeit the functionality is hidden away.
The ever-present Windows testing detective on Twitter, PhantomOfEarth, uncovered the feature using ViVeTool. (That’s a Windows configuration utility that can be used to poke around under the hood and enable features lurking in the background, still yet to be enabled by Microsoft).
Battery usage in Power settings is becoming Energy (& battery) usage, will show energy usage data (per app as well) and on devices without batteries. Devices with batteries can switch between energy usage and battery level. Total energy usage/emissions data also shown. (23506) pic.twitter.com/PVpep5uiEXJuly 19, 2023
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As you might imagine, these features are hidden for good reason – they are still wonky and incomplete, and that’s very much the case with what we see here.
But the broad gist of it is that in build 23506, Microsoft is turning the Battery Usage panel into Energy (& Battery) Usage, meaning that it’ll be relevant not just for the best laptops out there and battery levels, but to show power usage for desktop PCs.
As PhantomOfEarth explains, the panel will show energy usage data for the Windows 11 PC, and break that down to individual apps, too – so if there’s an energy hog piece of software on your system, it’ll be clearly visible.
People running desktop computers will be able to see energy usage, but those with laptops can choose to switch between energy usage and battery level (so don’t worry, the latter isn’t being ditched).
Microsoft will also provide overall energy use and emissions data, but as the leaker observes, this is not yet finished and appears to display placeholder readings for now.
Analysis: Inbound for the 23H2 update? Perhaps…
It’s no surprise to see the feature isn’t fully working, because as we noted above, this is why the Energy (& Battery) Usage panel hasn’t yet been sent live in Windows 11 – it isn’t ready.
However, it’s something we expect will be added in time, given that it’ll be pretty useful to see a full breakdown of your PC’s power usage and environmental footprint, as it were. (At a time when those concerns are becoming increasingly sensitive, of course).
Being able to view your energy footprint and adjust your PC’s settings to see how you can do better – and save money on energy bills, hopefully, even if only a little – will be a welcome ability. Indeed, we can see this feature being tied into Microsoft’s AI project eventually, so you’ll be able to request: “Copilot, help me save energy on this PC.” Followed by a useful set of changes based on the relevant data collected here (well, hopefully).
At any rate, we wouldn’t be surprised to see this functionality arrive in the Windows 11 23H2 update (when Copilot will theoretically also pitch up, but we remain unconvinced about that rumor).
Google is launching yet another large language model (LLM) with the purpose of helping people organize their messy Google Docs accounts.
Say you’re a college student who typed in a series of notes into a Google Docs file for class, but you didn’t put a lot of thought into the page’s structure. It’s all one big mess of randomly organized ideas. Now, you can ask the new NotebookLM tool to generate a short summary to read so you have a better idea of what you wrote. The original file will still be there for reference. It’s not going anywhere. The generative AI will even throw in some “key topics and questions” based on the summarized information to help users gain “a better understanding of the material.” What’s more, you are not limited to a single document. Notebook LM is able to pull from multiple sources for its content.
Directing the AI
Like Bard, Google’s other generative AI, you can ask NotebookLM questions to better direct its response if you want to know something in particular. In an example given, a student can upload an “article about neuroscience” and then tell the AI to construct a list of “key terms related to dopamine” from that particular piece.
NotebookLM isn’t only for summarizing your school notes. It can, according to Google, generate ideas, too. Google states a content creator can give the LLM their idea for a new video and then instruct it to write up a rough draft for a script or help a businessperson come up with questions to ask at an investors’ meeting.
As helpful as it may sound, there is one major problem. Believe it or not, NotebookLM can still hallucinate. Even though the main source is your own personal Google Docs account, there's still the possibility it could create false information. The company recommends double-checking the generated responses “against your original source material” just to be safe. If the AI is grabbing from multiple sources, Google states each response will have citations so you’ll know exactly where everything is coming from.
Future release
NotebookLM is currently seeing a limited release as it is still experimental technology. If you want to try it out yourself, head on over to the Google Labs website and sign up for the waitlist. Once a spot opens up, Google will shoot over an email letting you know. The company is asking the lucky few who gain access to please provide feedback so it can improve the AI.
NotebookLM actually made its world debut during Google I/O 2023 when it was originally known as Project Tailwind. The event saw the tech giant tease a lot of upcoming devices and software; most of which have been released with a few stragglers remaining. Universal Translator, for example, is still missing in action. If you don’t recall, it’s an “AI video dubbing service” that has the ability to translate speech in real-time. There also isn’t a lot of information out there regarding the Sidekick panel, a Google Docs feature that can create text prompts while writing.
We asked Google if it could provide any insight on the missing I/O 2023 tech plus when it will release the final version of NotebookLM. This story will be updated at a later time.
Top AI photo editng app PhotoRoom has formed a new partnership with Google Cloud that it says could seriously speed up image generation while keeping costs down.
The software, dubbed “the fastest generative AI provider in the commerce space” by the company, is designed to let businesses create and edit product images for ecommerce platforms.
Announcing its intention to power-up AI performance with Google’s A3 ‘supercomputers’, the company said the pairing will cut product photography production times for small businesses and entrepreneurs “from days to less than an hour – without compromising accuracy or quality.”
Product, production & photo editing
Like most commercial content creation, product photography demands high-quality visuals produced at high velocity. Not only do items need to look their best, websites need to cover variations from color to size if it’s to be added to a shopper’s basket.
It’s a process that takes time – and the space that PhotoRoom, founded in 2019, occupies. The photo editor streamlines image manipulation, letting firms enhance product shots and add unique, AI-generated backgrounds, while free photo editor tools include a background remover and object remover.
Highlighting the major growth in genAI usage, Matthieu Rouif, PhotoRoom CEO,.said “We're already processing 2 billion images per year, and we expect that to double in 2024, as more businesses adopt PhotoRoom's generative AI technology. Google Cloud provides the ideal foundation for our continued success with its capacity to scale, its flexibility, and its sustainable infrastructure.”
The use of Google Cloud A3 instances is a compelling choice. Unveiled in May 2023, the next-generation GPU supercomputers are designed to train and deliver what Google called “the most demanding AI models” for generative AI and LLMs. However, the partnership benefits Google as much as PhotoRoom, strengthening the search giant’s clear B2B focus when it comes to rolling artificial intelligence to the masses.
“We're thrilled to offer Google Cloud's industry leading infrastructure, foundation models and AI tooling to PhotoRoom so the company can build, train, and deploy AI creatively, reliably and at scale,” said Mark Lohmeyer, vice president and general manager of Google Cloud.
AI seems to be everywhere at the moment, and Google is building the tech into its products faster than most. Gmail is the latest Google app to get an injection of artificial intelligence, to improve search results on mobile.
“When searching in Gmail, machine learning models will use the search term, most recent emails and other relevant factors to show you the results that best match your search query,” Google explains in a blog post (via Android Central).
“These results will now appear at the top of the list in a dedicated section, followed by all results sorted by recency,” the post continues. In other words, AI will (in theory) pick out the best matches for your search, and put them at the top of the list.
Years of AI
This is coming to the Gmail apps for Android and iOS, and should be rolling out for everyone now. As yet, there's no word on whether or not the same feature will be making an appearance in the desktop web interface for Gmail.
AI has been built into Gmail for years of course, with features like Smart Reply composing short automated replies for you. In recent months, Google has been pushing more advanced, generative AI as a way of composing your emails.
More AI features are heading to search on the web too, while development on the ChatGPT rival Google Bard continues at a steady pace. We can expect plenty more announcements like this one in the months and years ahead.
Analysis: AI needs to be useful
Google and other tech companies seem to have no qualms about pushing out AI features as quickly as they possibly can at the moment, which is what tends to happen in a competitive, emerging field when several players are trying to get out in front.
However, we'd query just how useful all of this AI is going to end up being. Sure, having the option to generate text messages in the style of Shakespeare is quite fun – but wouldn't most people prefer to use their own words from their own heads when keeping up conversations with friends and family?
Even something like Gmail search isn't a complete win for AI. What are the “relevant factors” that the app is using to pick the top results? Are they reliable? Sometimes it feels like the old manual methods of labels and stars are the best ways to keep on top of thousands of emails taking up room in Gmail.
In an age where we're relying on algorithms for everything from choosing our movie recommendations to writing our books, there's still a lot to be said for human creativity and curation, which might be slower but can be a whole lot more useful and engaging.
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.
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.
Google Maps is getting a big boost to its impressive Immersive View Mode to help you plan routes and trips using its bird's-eye view.
Announced at Google I/O 2023, which you can follow at our Google I/O 2023 liveblog, Google Maps Immersive View for routes will bring you a 3D view of your planned journey – for example, a bike ride or drive. This will give you a clearer real-world view of the neighborhoods you're going through, plus other information like traffic, air quality, temperature and more.
This all sounds a lot more useful than Google Maps' traditional overhead view, and could also be a very helpful tool for planning photography trips. But given that many of us are still waiting for the first version of Immersive View to roll out, it may be a while before you can start using it to plan trips.
(Image credit: Google)
Google says it will begin rolling the feature out for a few cities this summer (in other words, between now and August), and will eventually cover 15 cities “by the end of the year”. These will include Los Angeles, New York, Miami, London, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Tokyo, Seattle, and Venice.
We've previously called Google Maps Immersive View a “next-gen Street View”. That's because it uses a combination of Street View and aerial imagery to give you digital recreations of cities in Google Maps, complete with real-time information.
(Image credit: Google)
The fact that this is all coming to route planning, rather than just tourist attractions in major cities, is great news, and should make piecing together journey plans a lot more intuitive.
Combine this with Indoor Live View, a separate feature that displays AR arrows over your real-world view, and Maps will soon become an even bigger essential for tourists and the perennially lost.
But Apple Maps is also becoming a stronger rival thanks to features like Flyover view, and we'll want to see Immersive View roll out much quicker than it has done so far before declaring a Street View-sized success.
As the weather warms up, people will naturally begin planning their next vacation. Google, in response, is adding four new features across several platforms on smartphones in an effort to help users find good travel deals and build an itinerary.
Arguably the most impactful addition, Google Flights is getting a new price guarantee badge to indicate the current price of a ticket is the lowest it will be for that day. That price point will be monitored “every day until departure, and if it does go down,” Google states it will pay you back the difference via Google Pay. The badge is part of a new pilot program so its reach will be limited. It’ll only show information on flights departing from the United States.
Google Search, on the other hand, is getting a new Stories-like feature for hotel listings where you can swipe through a series of images to give you an idea of what to expect. User reviews and the location’s website will be present on-screen for more information alongside a booking button. The third Search feature adds prices for local tourist attractions and tour companies with an accompanying booking link. Famous locations in particular will have suggestions underneath the listing “for related experiences”, almost like a mini “city-wide tour”.
And finally, Google Maps will be getting a Recents tab for desktop displaying recently searched locales on the left-hand menu. You can then place everything in a new list to be saved for the future or to be shared with friends. Recents will be available “globally starting next week” with no word on a mobile version yet. That same Maps post does mention other notable travel tools, but it’s all stuff we’ve seen before like Immersive View and the AR-based Live View
Availability
The Google Search update is currently rolling out to mobile with some already online. We were able to try out the hotel Stories slideshow, but neither the flight guarantee badge nor tourist attraction prices were available at the time of this writing. Additionally, we asked Google if the company has plans to expand its badge pilot program to other countries and flights arriving in the US. This story will be updated at a later time if we hear back.
Before you go on vacation, there are a couple of other tools we recommend you become familiar with. Google recently launched extreme heat alerts to Search to let people know of upcoming heat waves and what to do to stay cool. There's also the tracking tool on Maps allowing users to share their location with friends in case they get lost.
Long gone are the days when POS systems were only used for making sales. Today’s cloud POS systems are management tools that can be used to do everything from managing your inventory and suppliers to tracking the activity of employees – whether it’s hours worked or sales made.
Today, POS systems can even manage employee schedules and streamline HR and training, putting all of your essential business data and reports when and where you need them.
If they're used effectively, POS systems save time and money and have the potential to improve the entire staff management system. Let's take a look at the most common ways your POS system can help manage staff.
1. POS systems offer easier time tracking
POS systems can help accurately track when employees are working. Naturally, this is a critical part of properly managing your employees. That's why outdated clocking in and out systems can be a slow, frustrating and time-consuming experience for employees themselves.
Some POS systems offer an efficient and quick time tracking solution, for both you and your employees. In a lot of cases, POS software enables employees to use a secure PIN when clocking in or out and can even create personal profiles for workers.
This lets both them and you see how many hours they’ve worked in a day, week, or month, thereby minimizing time fraud. Seeing as it’s estimated that time theft costs U.S. employers more than $ 400 billion per year in lost productivity, this is crucial.
POS systems can track employee working hours to the minute (Image credit: Photo by Ketut Subiyanto from Pexels)
For businesses that involve tipping, there are systems that won’t let an employee clock out without declaring their tips and/or performing a till count, which can aid in cash management purposes.
While different POS time clocks will come with different capabilities, it’s a feature that can greatly benefit your business, as this is an efficient way to streamline and consolidate multiple records into a single system.
For example, some time clocks can also integrate with payroll and this automation can simplify calculations of who is owed what when they work different roles – such as a hostess versus a waiter in a restaurant setting. And, finally, a POS with a good timekeeping system can also simplify payroll when employees work overtime at a different rate of pay.
2. Streamlined scheduling
One of the most tedious parts of managing employees is making out the schedule – that is, if you’re still doing it on paper or a whiteboard. With a modern POS system, you can not only track employee hours, but you can make on-the-fly updates and changes in the system in a way that completely streamlines the process.
And, while it’s convenient to set up the times your employees are scheduled to work for the next week, most POS systems also allow managers to accept or reject time off requests and shift trades. Some even have integrations that let you set up a task list and goals for your staff. Better still, because it’s cloud-based software, you can access it from anywhere at any time, meaning you can quickly and easily make last-minute changes.
It’s also important to determine how many people you’ll need on the clock at any given time and, with the right data at your fingertips, this task becomes much easier. Most modern POS solutions provide data and reports on your peak sales and busiest hours and you can use that information to figure out how many employees to bring on at any given time.
3. Improved customer skills and interaction
One of the biggest benefits of today’s modern POS systems is the introduction of mobile capabilities. Instead of having to wait in line at the checkout, a mobile POS system paves the way for mobile checkout, which also gives employees more opportunities to interact with the customers. Employees can answer inventory questions for a customer and even complete a transaction, thus streamlining the retail experience.
mPOS transaction values are “predicted to exceed $ 1.9 trillion by 2024, up from $ 850 billion in 2019”
Juniper Research
If you don’t currently offer mobile POS in your store, you’re going to soon be in the minority. Retailers are quickly realizing how it improves employee efficiency and effectiveness, which improves the bottom line.
Indeed, mPOS transaction values are “predicted to exceed $ 1.9 trillion by 2024, up from $ 850 billion in 2019,” and according to one survey, “90% of respondents agree or strongly agree that mPOS is cost effective,” with 72% of retailers surveyed accepting mobile payments, compared to 51% in 2017.
4. Detailed employee activity reporting
POS data can reveal critical insights about your business – both the good and the bad. While you would like to be able to trust your staff 100% of the time, the fact of the matter is that employee theft costs U.S. businesses $ 50 billion annually. The first line of defence in preventing this expensive incident is a POS system with comprehensive case management reporting.
More than just inputting a start and an end cash count, modern POS systems can provide comprehensive reports for till count before and after shift changes and carefully document cash-ins and cash-outs, among other things involving security.
On the flip side, POS systems with detailed employee reports are also the easiest way to track performance so you can identify – and reward – top employees. And, as many businesses know, employee rewards and recognition can truly pay off both for employers and their staff. A recent study found that 63% of employees who are recognized are very unlikely to look for a new job, and 40% of employed Americans would put additional energy into their work if they were recognized more often.
It's also possible to run reports to find out who your top and poorest performing employees are, which employees process the most sales, who is working overtime and so on. You can then use all of this information, both to make strategic scheduling decisions, reward high performers and provide extra training to boost productivity for employees who aren’t performing as well.
5. Smoother employee training
Invest the time and ensure that staff are fully trained on your POS system (Image credit: Photo by Blake Wisz on Unsplash)
Last, but certainly not least is employee training. You can have the greatest employee in the world filled with high morale and ambition, but without proper POS training, they won’t be able to reach their full potential. When introducing a POS system into your store, it’s crucial that you properly train them on how the system works – and how it benefits them and will make their job that much easier.
The majority of cloud-based POS software is specifically designed to be as easy to use as possible. However, every system is different and will require a specific set of skills that may take some time to acquire. That’s why, when selecting a POS system, it’s important to think about the onboarding process for both new and current employees.
For example, how difficult will it be to train employees on this system? Does the interface include a training mode built right into it? Are you provided with comprehensive training materials? Will the vendor offer on-site training and support?
The more time you invest in training your staff to use a new POS, the greater the likelihood that the transition will be smooth and you’ll reap all the beneficial rewards.
Your POS system and employee management
From training employees to use the POS system itself to using the POS system to manage your employees, it’s safe to say that this technology is the backbone of your business.
Along with tracking inventory and suppliers, it helps you manage your staffing levels, employee hours and overall sales performance. What's more, by optimizing your employee management, you’re better able to streamline your business – boosting not only the customer experience, but also your bottom line.
Further reading
If you're looking for more information about POS systems and the benefits they bring, then check out our expert guides to understanding the cost of a POS system, how to choose the best POS system for your business.
Windows 11 has received another preview build in the Dev channel, and it brings in a number of tweaks and additions, including beefing up a feature that should help your PC use a bit less electricity.
That would be Content Adaptive Brightness Control (CABC), which as of preview build 23424, works not just with laptops on battery power, but when they’re plugged in – and indeed with desktop PCs too.
What CABC does is intelligently dim (or lighten) certain parts of the screen depending on what content is being displayed, the idea being that it can cut back power usage without hampering the ‘visual experience’.
In other words, the tweaking on the dimming front shouldn’t make any noticeable difference to the image you’re looking at on-screen, and it should save you a bit of power (and therefore cash, over time).
The feature can be set to be always on, or it can be disabled, or alternatively you can choose to have CABC kick in only if you’re on battery power (on a laptop of course).
(Image credit: Microsoft)
What else is new for build 23424? There’s a new widget board which is now bigger, so it’s three columns wide (rather than two) and much roomier (assuming the device’s screen has enough real-estate to cope).
Along with this, there’s the usual gamut of fixes and minor tweaks, all of which are detailed in the usual blog post published with every preview build.
Notable pieces of minor tinkering include improving the speed of running searches within the Settings panel, and a change to produce better performance when playing games with a high polling mouse (a super-precise fancy gaming mouse, basically).
Analysis: Small savings that could add up (we hope)
Bringing adaptive brightness control to a desktop PC might sound a bit daft, considering it’s really more a battery-saving feature for laptops. But if like us, you have your PC turned on for about 60 or 70 hours a week, tiny little power savings will add up across the year – especially with energy pricing being what it is these days (sky-high where we are).
So, this is a useful addition we think, providing that as Microsoft asserts, there’s no noticeable hampering of the quality of the monitor image when the feature is turned on. Of course, you don’t have to switch it on if you don’t want to.
Microsoft’s work with widgets seems to be progressing at a speedy pace, too. The more expansive widget board was previously seen in limited testing in the Canary channel, which is the earliest test channel, just a week ago. Now it’s already in the Dev channel and more widely rolled out.
There are other widget-related changes theoretically in the pipeline that we might see soon, too. That includes Microsoft’s experiments with animated icons for widgets (which we have to say look quite nifty), and the rumored possibility has been floated that users may eventually be allowed to drop widgets onto the desktop. It seems fairly clear that widgets are quite a big thing for Microsoft, so expect to see more of them in Windows 11 down the line.
WhatsApp is taking a more proactive approach to filtering out spam as it may soon begin automatically silencing calls from unknown numbers.
The feature is fittingly called Silence Unknown Callers, according to WABetaInfo, giving users the choice of whether or not they want phone calls from people outside of their contacts. It’ll find its home in the settings menu where it can be toggled on or off at any time. Once activated, WhatsApp will no longer alert users to calls from random numbers, but the Caller ID can still be found in both the calls list and notifications center if you really want to know who it was.
As WABetaInfo points out, Silence Unknown Callers could also be addressing a flaw in WhatsApp’s Communities feature. The problem is anyone in a group can get other people’s numbers pretty easily either by contacting the Community creator or an admin to then start spam calling everyone. On the flip side, the full list of participants in a Community and their numbers are visible to the creator so even they can take advantage of the situation. Reporting and blocking certainly work, however, there’s nothing in the way to stop the first wave of spam; at least for now.
You can try out Silence Unknown Callers yourself by downloading the latest WhatsApp beta for Android which you can do by joining the Google Play Store beta program. It’s unknown at this time whether or not the feature will make its way to iOS nor do we know its official launch date.
In the works
Alongside Silence Unknown Callers, WhatsApp is currently testing a variety of other new features for Android. The big one is a new split view on tablets allowing the chat list to appear when opening a chat, status tabs, or making a call. It looks similar to the browser version of WhatsApp. Additionally, the beta will allow users to try out the redesigned Status tab now supporting Newsletters, the platform’s other big upcoming feature.
There are a few changes for WhatsApp for iPhones, but they’re a lot less impactful. Arguably the biggest change in the iOS beta is the redesigned chat attachment menu which is already present on the Android app. And a new sticker maker tool that turns images into stickers. Not much for iOS owners right now, but at least you recently got an exclusive picture-in-picture mode for video calls.
Be sure to check out TechRadar’s recently updated list of the best antivirus apps for Android if you want to know how you can boost security.
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