Windows 11 is getting out of hand with its push for advertisments, frankly – remember the recent full-screen pop-up to persuade users to install Edge or other Microsoft services? Then another advertisment was placed in the Start menu, and now Microsoft has finally worn my temper thin – with a new Game Pass ad coming to the Settings app.
This will likely arrive in the July update for Windows 11, or at least it’s almost certain to do so. It was present in the latest preview update Microsoft just released for the OS (and quickly paused due to a bug, but that’s another story). It’s also worth noting that the ad has been present in earlier test versions of Windows 11.
You can call it a ‘recommendation’ if you’re feeling kind, but the veiled advertisement for Game Pass appears for Windows 11 Home and Pro users who actively play games on their rig, as Windows Central reports.
Microsoft’s bid to further monetize the operating system seems to be going down the route of smaller, less conspicuous ‘recommendations’ or suggestions like this, which are happening more often, and my worry is that they will become even more frequent and annoying.
Taking it too far…
In my opinion, things have already gone too far. The attempt to blur the line between a recommendation and an ad makes the whole thing feel rather disingenuous. Yes, one could argue that Microsoft is (at the moment) only recommending its own products that could make the lives of Windows 11 users easier or more interesting, but who’s to say it will always stay this way? Once some kind of broad acceptance has been established with the Windows user base, the fear is that Microsoft might push boundaries in the future.
I’m thinking about third-party app ads, which have already crept into some corners of Windows 11 – will these inevitably become more prevalent? And could Microsoft’s use of them even trigger similar moves from rivals? Might I turn on my Chromebook in a few months – well, okay, years – and be bombarded with ads for things I don’t want or care for?
Another thing that bothers me is that it’s not like these ads will appear in some obscure corner of Windows 11. Think about how often you open your Settings app and consider how aggressive this level of advertising really is in the grand scheme of things. Are you going to have to deal with a full-screen ad when you’re trying to open File Explorer eventually?
The problem is that you aren’t renting your PC – you own it, or maybe it’s a work device, but whatever the case, you, your company, or your boss have already paid for Windows. Given that, implementing inescapable ads diminishes your ownership experience – kind of like how you have to sit through ads on YouTube to watch free content. Except Windows 11 isn’t free – and if I have to navigate a maze of ads to change my wallpaper or check on an update, I’m not going to be pleased about it.
Microsoft better watch how it treads here, and keep these kinds of ads to a minimum if it doesn’t want to turn the Windows 11 user base against it – though I have my doubts that the company will.
The Apple WWDC 2024 keynote is always one of the highlights of the tech calendar, and this year's edition was bigger than most. That's because, as widely predicted, Tim Cook used the occasion to reveal Apple Intelligence – arguably the biggest development in Apple-land since… well, the reveal of the Vision Pro last year.
As well as the big AI-related news, the nearly two-hour Apple event was absolutely packed with detail on everything from iOS 18 to the latest macOS to iPadOS, watchOS and tvOS.
You can check out our WWDC 2024 live blog for full info on everything that was announced, but if you want the highlights then here are the 13 biggest announcements from WWDC 2024.
1. Apple Intelligence is coming soon…
(Image credit: Apple)
Let's start with the big one, then.
Apple Intelligence is Apple’s new family of AI features, which will thread its way through every Apple platform and even work with third-party apps. It'll be entirely free, and available on iOS 18, iPadOS 18 and macOS Sequoia via their respective betas, then fully rolled out later this year.
It approaches AI in a very Apple way, which means privacy first, and most features work on the device you're using, without sharing to the cloud. When you need more power, Apple has a Power Cloud Compute option for complex requests, but Apple’s cloud still focuses more on privacy than any AI we’ve seen so far.
Among the many features on offer you'll get access to generative writing, generative image creation, and third-party API tools, in addition to the massive upgrade coming to Siri (see below). Apple was a little late to the AI party, but it'll be fully up to speed soon.
Exciting though Apple Intelligence is, it will only be available on iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and iPad and Mac models using the Apple M1 chip or later.
This is understandable, given that it needs powerful Apple silicon to work, but will be disappointing for anyone who owns a standard iPhone 15, any iPhone 14 or earlier model, or indeed an Intel-based MacBook. Expect sales of the rumored iPhone 16 range to benefit considerably…
3. Siri got a huge update – and now comes with added ChatGPT
(Image credit: Future)
Apple's voice assistant has been treading water for years, but Siri will finally get the makeover it so badly needs in iOS 18. That includes a visual refresh, with the assistant now a glowing light around the edges of your iPhone's screen.
But Siri has also been given a much-needed brain transplant. It'll have 'on-screen awareness' to make it work better with apps – and if it can't answer a question, you can plug it into ChatGPT-4o's model for free, cloud-based wisdom. The bad news? The new Siri is powered by Apple Intelligence, which means that as stated above, you'll only get it on the latest iPhone 15 Pro models, or iPads and Macs that have at least an M1 chip. Still, it'll be a nice perk when we do upgrade.
4. Custom emojis with generative AI will ruin communication
(Image credit: Apple)
Oh boy. If you thought emoji use was bad before, just wait for Apple’s new feature that enables you to just tell your iPhone/iPad/Mac what cool new emoji you want, and it’ll create it for you using generative AI – so there will truly be one for every occasion.
Some will be adorable, some will be surreal, some will be disturbing, obviously. Will we love this feature? Or, more likely, will it be the moment when… hmmm, how to describe this? 'Hey iPhone, make us an emoji of a man in a leather jacket jumping his jetski over a shark.'
5. iOS 18's new updates look pretty sweet
(Image credit: Apple)
As expected, Apple revealed its next major software update, iOS 18, confirming that big changes are headed to core iPhone apps including Mail, Messages, Maps and Photos.
Mail, for instance, will soon be capable of categorizing your emails and providing easy-to-read digests, while the Photos app is being unified into a single view comprising a photo grid and a dates grid.
iOS 18 will soon let you react to messages using any emoji in the Messages app, and you'll be able to schedule messages to send at a convenient time in the future. Significant customization improvements are also coming to the Home Screen and Control Center.
We also found out the name of macOS 15: Sequoia. Despite the big reveal at the keynote, it wasn’t too much of a shock that Apple went for this. For a start, modern macOS releases have all been named after Californian landmarks or places – previous editions have been called Big Sur, Ventura, Monterey and Sonoma. Sequoia, named after a national park in Sierra Nevada, continues this tradition.
Internet sleuths also spotted ahead of WWDC that Apple has trademarked a number of potential names: Redwood, Grizzly, Mammoth, Pacific, Rincon, Farallon, Miramar, Condor, Diablo, Shasta… and Sequoia. As well as its name, we also found out that it’ll be coming out ‘this Fall’ (so September or October 2024), with a developer preview available right now.
As our Vision Pro review makes clear, Apple's mixed-reality headset is a special piece of kit that really has to be experienced. Thus far, it's only been available in the US – but that's changing now.
As of Thursday, June 13, customers in China, Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore will be able to pre-order the Vision Pro, with devices shipping from Friday, June 28. Those in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and the UK will have to wait a little longer, but will be able to pre-order from June 28, with devices available from July 12.
How much will it cost? Well, we know that in the UK it will start at £3,499, and based on the US price – which is also $ 3,499 – we'd expect it to retail at around AU$ 6,349.
8. visionOS 2 will turn your 2D images into Spatial Photos
Alongside a global launch for the hardware, Apple announced visionOS 2 on the software side. The standout feature is that the headset can now turn your flat pictures into spatial photos, using machine learning.
Spatial images have depth that makes them feel more like you’re viewing a memory than looking at a regular photo does, and this is a huge win for those of you with overflowing iCloud libraries.
When the visionOS 2 update rolls out later this year, other features you’ll unlock include travel mode being able to work on trains (alongside planes), while your Mac virtual display will get a lot bigger, with the max size being like having two 4K displays sitting side by side. There will also be new hand-gesture controls, which should allow you to quickly navigate to the settings menu, home view, and other useful tools.
The biggest cheer of the night came not for the Vision Pro or iOS 18, but from… the Calculator app on iPadOS 18. Yes, really.
In fairness, the iPad has never had a native Calculator app, with users instead having to make do with third-party options, a fact which has inspired more than a few memes at Apple's expense over the years.
The new Calculator app is more than just a scaled-up version of the iOS app, though. Extra features include a resizable window and a sidebar that lists recent calculations. But better still is the new Math Notes integration.
This works with the Apple Pencil, allowing you to write equations that will be solved immediately once you write an equals sign. You can then make changes to various elements of the equation and see how the results change in real-time, plus turn equations immediately into charts and more. It looks pretty impressive.
It also introduces a new Vitals app that can help users understand how well one’s body responds to and recover from stress. Meanwhile, the new Training Load score uses an algorithm to generate a score based on how well a person is responding to training, by harnessing metrics such as average heart rates and resting, combined with one’s age and weight data.
Apple hasn’t revamped watchOS that much, but the 11th iteration leans on evolution and should make wearing one of the best Apple Watches even better.
11. People will hear you way more clearly when calling from AirPods Pro 2
AirPods Pro 2 are getting a Voice Isolation feature, which promises to massively reduce wind noise and other loud sounds from the mic when you call someone using them. Given how good the noise cancellation on AirPods Pro 2 is, we’re looking forward to seeing how well this works. Other AirPods miss, sadly – it needs the mighty power of the Apple H2 chip, currently unique to AirPods Pro 2.
Unsurprisingly, tvOS wasn't exactly the main focus of the WWDC 2024 keynote, but it did get a few new features to enhance your Apple TV experience.
The most interesting of the tvOS 18 updates looks like InSight, the company’s own take on the X-Ray feature used by Amazon Prime Video, which displays onscreen info about actors, characters, and background music in movies and shows.
The Apple TV 4K’s Enhance Dialogue feature, meanwhile, is getting an AI boost to make voices sound clear across a range of devices, and subtitles will get a similar treatment to generate onscreen text when muting or scanning back through programs.
Last but not least, the Apple TV 4K will now be able to output images in the ultra-wide 21:9 aspect ratio format for better compatibility with 4K projectors.
Safe to say that iPhone owners have been jealous of Magic Eraser on the the Google Pixel range, and fortunately Apple is finally fixing this – and it's not just on iOS, but will be within Photos on iPadOS and macOS as well.
With a new Clean Up feature you'll be able to circle to intelligently remove an object or even a person from the background. Furthermore, search is getting much smarter within the Photos app, making it easier for you to find photos that you care about.
Google I/O 2024's entire two-hour keynote was devoted to Gemini. Not a peep was uttered for the recently launched Pixel 8a or what Android 15 is bringing upon release. The only times a smartphone or Android was mentioned is how they are being improved by Gemini.
The tech giant is clearly going all-in on the AI, so much so that the stream concludes by boldly displaying the words “Welcome to the Gemini era”.
Among all the updates that were presented at the event, Google Search is slated to gain some of the more impressive changes. You could even argue that the search engine will see one of the most impactful upgrades in 2024 that it’s ever received in its 25 years as a major tech platform. Gemini gives Google Search a huge performance boost, and we can’t help but feel excited about it.
Below is a quick rundown of all the new features Google Search will receive this year.
1. AI Overviews
(Image credit: Google)
The biggest upgrade coming to the search engine is AI Overviews which appears to be the launch version of SGE (Search Generative Experience). It provides detailed, AI-generated answers to inquiries. Responses come complete with contextually relevant text as well as links to sources and suggestions for follow-up questions.
Starting today, AI Overviews is leaving Google Labs and rolling out to everyone in the United States as a fully-fledged feature. For anyone who used the SGE, it appears to be identical.
Response layouts are the same and they’ll have product links too. Google has presumably worked out all the kinks so it performs optimally. Although when it comes to generative AI, there is still the chance it could hallucinate.
There are plans to expand AI Overviews to more countries with the goal of reaching over a billion people by the end of 2024. Google noted the expansion is happening “soon,” but an exact date was not given.
2. Video Search
(Image credit: Google)
AI Overviews is bringing more to Google Search than just detailed results. One of the new features allows users to upload videos to the engine alongside a text inquiry. At I/O 2024, the presenter gave the example of purchasing a record player with faulty parts.
You can upload a clip and ask the AI what's wrong with your player, and it’ll provide a detailed answer mentioning the exact part that needs to be replaced, plus instructions on how to fix the problem. You might need a new tone arm or a cueing lever, but you won't need to type in a question to Google to get an answer. Instead you can speak directly into the video and send it off.
Searching With Video will launch for “Search Labs users in English in the US,” soon with plans for further expansion into additional regions over time.
3. Smarter AI
(Image credit: Google)
Next, Google is introducing several performance boosts; however, none of them are available at the moment. They’ll be rolling out soon to the Search Labs program exclusively to people in the United States and in English.
First, you'll be able to click one of two buttons at the top to simplify an AI Overview response or ask for more details. You can also choose to return to the original answer at any time.
Second, AI Overviews will be able to understand complex questions better than before. Users won’t have to ask the search engine multiple short questions. Instead, you can enter one long inquiry – for example, a user can ask it to find a specific yoga studio with introductory packages nearby.
Lastly, Google Search can create “plans” for you. This can be either a three-day meal plan that’s easy to prepare or a vacation itinerary for your next trip. It’ll provide links to the recipes plus the option to replace dishes you don't like. Later down the line, the planning tool will encompass other topics like movies, music, and hotels.
All about Gemini
That’s pretty much all of the changes coming to Google Search in a nutshell. If you’re interested in trying these out and you live in the United States, head over to the Search Labs website, sign up for the program, and give the experimental AI features a go. You’ll find them near the top of the page.
Google I/O 2024 dropped a ton of information on the tech giant’s upcoming AI endeavors. Project Astra, in particular, looked very interesting, as it can identify objects, code on a monitor, and even pinpoint the city you’re in just by looking outside a window.
Ask Photos was pretty cool, too, if a little freaky. It’s an upcoming Google Photos tool capable of finding specific images in your account much faster than before and “handle more in-depth queries” with startling accuracy.
Windows 11 is receiving some flak for its reportedly poor show in terms of the performance of the OS on the desktop, where some interface elements are running pretty sluggishly – or even getting to a ‘comically bad’ state of affairs as one user describes it.
This isn’t just any user, but an ex-Microsoft employee, Andy Young, who was a senior software engineer at the company for 13 years, and shared some observations (noticed by Neowin) about Windows 11 performance on X (formerly Twitter).
The Windows 11 Start Menu is comically bad.This machine has a $ 1600 Core i9 CPU and 128 GB of RAM and this is the performance I often get.What is going on in Redmond? pic.twitter.com/hDvALHRB5qApril 9, 2024
See more
As you can see in the above tweet, Young has published a video of some woefully bad Start menu performance on a PC bristling with high-end components.
The clip has received a lot of attention, prompting Young to add that: “To be clear, I love Windows. I helped build parts of it. I want it to be as good as it once was. If data suggests the software you build frustrates a significant percentage of users, it means there’s work left to be done.”
And indeed, others chime in on that thread saying they’ve encountered frustrating performance hitches, or indeed been mired in Start menu molasses similar to what Young has suffered. A common observation is the Start menu loading the wrong app (or no app at all) as performance is so bad when it opens, that the initial keystroke doesn’t register (meaning instead of typing ‘Notepad’ for example, you end up with ‘otepad’ and a Bing web search for that term).
Albacore, a regular leaker on all things Microsoft, also chipped in here with an observation of delays when positioning windows or closing messaging boxes.
24H2 quality on my daily driver HW is not greatHow have we reached the point of window positioning taking a second, post-initial render evenI would love to report this but this machine is cut off from FBH, if any MS folks want me to grab perf recordings or dumps please ping me pic.twitter.com/1nqQ4HNB0vApril 9, 2024
See more
Analysis: Time for a rethink, Microsoft?
It seems Microsoft is listening regarding the highlighted Start menu issues, and Young notes that ‘Jen’ sent a DM regarding reproducing and addressing the performance slowdowns observed. Presumably that’s Jen Gentleman of the Windows engineering team (who you may have seen introducing new Windows 11 test builds on Reddit as they emerge).
As was also observed among the feedback to Young’s post, technically this is not an issue with Start menu performance itself, but rather, Windows search as it’s integrated within the Start menu – an important distinction at least for the different teams in play with Windows 11 development here. Not that the end user will care much, mind.
This is not just about the Start menu, though, but rather the overall perception of Windows 11 being somewhat wonky or slow across various parts of the desktop, when it really shouldn’t be. In Young’s case, the likely culprit is the Start menu searching the web (as well as the PC) for what’s being typed, and probably hurdles and delays therein related to the network (connection or configuration, or maybe both).
In fairness to Microsoft, when it comes to Albacore’s case, it is a test build of the 24H2 update, so unpredictable behavior and slowdowns are to be expected. Still, should the OS really be stumbling over elements as simple as closing dialog boxes, or moving the windows that are the very core of Microsoft’s OS by definition? No, it shouldn’t, let’s face it.
For us, what all this strongly suggests is that perhaps it’s time Microsoft made more of a drive to shunt off legacy bits of code (and ancient features still hanging around, like the rusty old Control Panel – which is happening, just very slowly), and to tidy up the Windows 11 codebase in general, along with smoothing over existing features to fine-tune performance.
There is, clearly enough, still a good deal of skepticism to overcome about Windows 11, as struggling adoption levels for the OS underline. However, Microsoft best not forget that regarding the basics, there’s “work left to be done” as Young makes clear, and maybe after 24H2 has released (and Germanium is in place under the hood) is the time to focus on that reality more.
Google is working on a couple of new generative AI features for its Chrome browser like the ability to generate custom themes on desktop.
It’s similar to the Customize Chrome tool that came out back in May, although it’ll offer a lot more options. Looking at the demo videos shared by notable industry insider Leopeva64 on X (the platform formerly known as Twitter), Create Theme with AI, as it’s called, will ask you to first pick a subject from among 12 categories. The selections include objects in Space like the sun, famous US cities, to notable locations around the world such as the Great Wall of China. From here, you can choose a specific art style to mimic; be it an oil painting or 3D animation.
There are an overwhelming number of options available for creating AI themes in Chrome, here I show some of them:Subject 👇https://t.co/vMoDDl4pi9Style and mood 👇https://t.co/MkbwbqxZYe.https://t.co/Za0fgGS3k1 pic.twitter.com/WUGkYtQVjoDecember 9, 2023
See more
Users can then fine-tune their creations by picking out a mood. In the demo, a romantic undertone was chosen for the solar system theme. There’s also a palette of colors if you want to skew the output towards a certain hue.
Once everything’s been chosen, you then click the Create button to generate your very own theme – at least, that’s how it’s supposed to work. The feature actually fails to produce anything in the demo.
Experimental tech
You see, Create Theme with AI is currently exclusive to Chrome Canary, an experimental version of the browser primarily meant for developers who want to try out Google’s “bleeding edge” tech. There's no guarantee it'll work as intended right now. We installed the app on our computer to see if we were able to take the generative engine out for a spin, but unfortunately, it was inaccessible to us. The tool wasn’t on Canary’s Flags list.
Everyone can download the browser; there are no restrictions. However, keep in mind that because it’s experimental, it can be unstable. Chrome Canary will sometimes randomly crash. Google even warns people in the Flags list that enabling the nascent features could cause you to lose browser data or even compromise your security. So, exercise caution when installing Canary.
If you manage to become one of the lucky few with access, don’t get too attached. Canary tests aren’t guaranteed to see the light of day in a future release. At most, they’re a clue for where Google might be heading with its software. If does come out, the feature may look or function differently.
Helping you post
As mentioned earlier, there is another generative AI tool in the works for Chrome called Help Me Write. Variations of this feature have been spotted elsewhere on Gmail for mobile as well as Google Docs. Hints of the upgrade exist on the company’s Chromium website, and according to what 9To5Google was able to piece together, it functions very similarly. Help Me Write can offer “contextual writing suggestions” for posts or online reviews, for example. All users have to do is enter a short prompt to help get the AI started.
It’s unknown when this second update will be released as it is still under development. 9To5Google thinks it could come on Chrome 122 at the earliest which is scheduled to arrive in February 2024. However, like with Create Theme with AI, don’t hold your breath. Things can always change at the last minute.
While we have you, check out TechRadar's recently updated list of the best laptops for 2023.
Big changes are coming to Facebook Messenger, covering everything from photo and video sharing to user privacy. The changes are rolling out from today, although it may take some time for everyone's account to be updated.
Perhaps the biggest upgrade is the switch to end-to-end encryption as the default option for conversations – this had previously been available as an option in individual chats, but will now be automatically applied to all conversations and audio and video calls.
As on other similarly secured messaging apps like WhatsApp, end-to-end encryption means only you and the person or people you're chatting to can see the conversations – so no one else can intercept or unlock your communications, including staff at Meta, malicious actors, and law enforcement agencies.
The existing disappearing messages feature is getting tweaked, too: all messages now vanish after 24 hours (previously you could customize this), and Meta is making it easier for users to see when disappearing messages are enabled. You'll be alerted if anyone tries to take a screenshot of a disappearing message, too.
More upgrades
Image 1 of 2
Message editing is coming to the Messenger app (Image credit: Meta)
Image 2 of 2
Get ready for new photo and video layouts (Image credit: Meta)
In addition, Messenger is now joining Apple's iMessage in letting you edit messages after you've sent them. You get a 15-minute window after a message has been sent to revise it, if you've made a glaring typo or want to change the tone of your latest communication.
Another change is that read receipts can now be switched off, if you don't want other people knowing when you've seen their messages. As is the case with other messaging apps, there's a trade-off: you won't be able to see read receipts from other people either.
Photo and videos will now be shared at an “upgraded” quality, Meta says – so expect files that are less compressed when you share them around. Photos and videos will be easier to access in the Messenger interface, with some “fun” layouts applied when you share them in batches, and instant reactions to photos and videos are being added too.
Lastly, voice messages are going to get controls for variable speed playback, and the app will now remember where you left off in a voice message if you come back to it later. Voice messages will also continue to play if you navigate away from the chat or the app.
All in all, it's a big range of upgrades that'll be welcome for regular Messenger users, even if it might not convince others to switch from WhatsApp or iMessage.
This batch of improvements should make the Copilot chatbot considerably more powerful in numerous respects (outside of, and inside of Windows 11).
So, first off, let’s break down the upgrades themselves (listed in a Microsoft blog post) before getting into a discussion of what difference they’re likely to make.
Firstly, and most importantly, Copilot is getting a new brain, or we should say an upgraded brain in the form of GPT-4 Turbo. That’s the latest model of GPT from OpenAI which makes various advances in terms of being generally better and more accurate.
Another beefy upgrade is an updated engine for Dall-E 3, the chatbot’s image creation feature, which produces higher quality results that are more closely aligned with what’s requested by the user. This is actually in Copilot right now.
Thirdly, Microsoft promises that Copilot will do better with image searches, returning better results when you sling a picture at the AI in order to learn more about it.
Another addition is Deep Search which uses GPT-4 to “deliver optimized search results for complex topics” as Microsoft puts it. What this means is that if you have a query for Copilot, it can produce a more in-depth search request to produce better results. Furthermore, if the terms of your query are vague and could potentially relate to multiple topics, Deep Search will follow up on what those topics might be and offer suggestions to allow you to refine the query.
The fifth upgrade Microsoft has planned is Code Interpreter, which as the name suggests will help perform complex tasks including coding, data analysis and so forth. That’s not something the average user will benefit from, but there are those who will, of course.
Finally, Copilot in Microsoft’s Edge browser has a rewrite feature (for inline text composition) coming soon. This allows you to select text on a website and get the AI to rewrite it for you.
Analysis: Something for Google to worry about
(Image credit: Future)
There are some really useful changes inbound here. Getting GPT-4 Turbo is an upgrade (from GPT-4) that a lot of Copilot users have been clamoring for, and Microsoft tells us that it’s now being tested with select users. (We previously heard it still had a few kinks to iron out, so presumably that’s what’s currently going on).
GPT-4 Turbo will be rolling out in the “coming weeks” so it should be here soon enough, with any luck, and you’ll be able to see the difference it makes for you in terms of a greater level of accuracy for the chatbot when responding to your queries.
It’s great to see Dall-E 3 getting an upgrade, too, as it’s already an excellent image creation engine, frankly. (Recall the rush to use the feature when it was first launched, due to the impressive results being shared online).
The search query improvements, both the Deep Search capabilities and refined image searching, will also combine with the above upgrades to make Copilot a whole lot better across multiple fronts. (Although we do worry somewhat about the potential for abuse with that inline rewrite feature for Edge).
All of this forward momentum for Copilot comes as we just heard news of Google delaying its advances on the AI front, pushing some major launches back to the start of 2024. Microsoft isn’t hanging around when it comes to Copilot, that’s for sure, and Google has to balance keeping up, without pushing so hard that mistakes are made.
Meta is gearing up to announce a generative artificial intelligence chatbot (internally dubbed as ‘Gen AI Personas’) that is aimed at enticing younger users to the world of AI chatbots. The new chatbot is expected to launch during Meta’s Connect event on September 27, and will introduce some familiar but… dated ‘personas’.
The Verge notes that the chatbots will come with different personas that will promote more humanlike, engaging conversations to appeal to younger users. One of the ‘sassy’ robot personas is inspired by Bender from Futurama and Alvin the Alien.
Meta is planning to add “dozens” of familiar faces to its chatbot roster and even plans on creating a tool that will enable celebrities to make their own chatbots for their fans. This is good news, as I could finally talk to Beyonce.
How do you do, fellow kids?
Meta is clearly putting a lot of time and effort into perfecting its chatbot game in the budding world of AI. We all remember Snapchat AI, which rose to fame for about a week and then quickly fizzled out into obscurity.
Interestingly, the Wall Street Journal reached out to former Snap and Instagram executive Meghana Dhar, who noted that chatbots don’t “scream Gen Z to me, but definitely, Gen Z is much more comfortable” with new technology. She also adds that Meta’s goal with the chatbots is likely to be to keep them engaged for longer so it has “increased opportunity to serve them ads.”
That would explain the rather random selection of ‘young people’ personas that Meta is going for. While Bender from Futurama is pretty recognizable, he’s not exactly a Gen Z icon. As someone from the demographic Meta seems to be targeting, it’s an extremely odd celebrity to slap onto your product, considering there’s a plethora of other (more relevant) personalities to choose from.
The advantage Meta has in picking Gen Z as its target demographic is that Gen Z is very public about who they are super into right now. Meta could have picked literally anyone else, so hopefully the other personalities it has up its sleeve are a bit more … contemporary.
Microsoft has pushed out a new preview build for Windows 11, and made some useful changes in the earliest development channel – plus the company has applied some nifty tweaks for default apps in testing, too.
Let’s start with the freshly deployed preview build 25941 in the Canary channel, which introduces a toggle to turn on dynamic refresh rate (in Advanced Display settings). This allows Windows 11 to adjust the refresh rate of the screen on-the-fly, so when you don’t need to be running at the display’s maximum refresh, it can be toned down, thus saving a bit of power with your high refresh rate display.
Another related tweak is that when choosing a refresh rate, Windows 11 will now mark rates (with an asterisk) that can’t currently be selected due to the resolution you’re running at (but could be used at a different resolution).
Build 25941 also has a raft of bug fixes as detailed in Microsoft’s blog post introducing this new preview version.
Elsewhere in testing, Microsoft has rolled out updates for the Snipping Tool and Notepad apps in Windows 11 (for Canary and also Dev channel testers).
With the Snipping Tool, users now get the benefit of a ‘combined capture bar,’ a panel that easily allows you to switch between capturing screenshots and video clips. And with those videos, screen recording has been bolstered so you can record the PC audio and a voiceover using a microphone should you wish.
As for Notepad, this is getting an auto-save feature. Anything you write will be saved, and sessions will be saved when you close Notepad, coming back up when you next start the app.
Analysis: Small tweaks with bigger results
Dynamic refresh rate is a neat feature to see arrive in Canary (it was previously in Dev channel, too), and hopefully this will be inbound for beta builds before too long, and shuffling its way through to the release version of Windows 11.
It’s going to be of considerable benefit to laptop owners, as the energy savings to be made by lowering the refresh rate (where possible – such as when you have a screenful of text you’re reading, which really doesn’t require any smoothness) will add up to longer battery life when out and about.
As for the beefed-up Snipping Tool, that’s a more streamlined experience, and the support for voiceovers will doubtless be welcomed by those knocking up, say, a quick help video on how to do something on the Windows 11 desktop.
It’s certainly useful to give Notepad auto-save – it’s a favorite app for some folks – for obvious reasons (and there’s the ability to switch it off, if you don’t want it). What’s also cool about this is that you don’t have to engage with any dialog boxes (such as confirming ‘Do you want to save?’). Notepad just keeps the content saved without prompting you when you close the app, bringing the text back when it’s reopened.
Windows 10 users are suffering at the hands of some fresh bugs introduced by the latest update for the OS from Microsoft.
That would be KB5026361, the cumulative update for Windows 10 for May, which was released a couple of weeks back, and appears to be causing a bunch of glitches and more serious problems.
In the serious category we can file some Reddit users who are complaining on two counts of the patch ‘bricking’ their PC, and also reports of Blue Screen of Death (BSoD) crashes post-update.
Some of those BSoDs offer up an error that reads ‘Process1 Initialization Failed’ and as Neowin, which spotted this, explains, this seemingly occurs due to the Bootcat.cache file becoming corrupted (or its size having changed since the last time the PC booted).
Other Windows 10 users are encountering a problem that’ll sound familiar, no doubt – the failure to install the update, often accompanied with a meaningless error code (such as ‘0x800f0922’ which appears to be one of the more prevalent occurrences in this case).
On top of that, there are scattered complaints such as someone’s Windows 10 mouse settings being reset after the update (and some previous updates too, we’re told).
Others have lodged complaints about bugs with KB5026361 in Microsoft’s Feedback Hub, and another report from a Redditor states that their laptop’s Wi-Fi doesn’t work, and that the ‘windows bar is locked’ (presumably the taskbar is unresponsive) after the update.
Analysis: Another update and yet more problems
Given that there are only two reports of bricked PCs, we can’t jump to conclusions – there could possibly be other issues at play in those instances. Still, it’s worrying to see such reports, even if this clearly isn’t a widespread problem. BSoD crashes are a nasty thing to be happening here, too.
It’s not surprising to see installation failures with the cumulative update for May, as this bugbear is one Microsoft just can’t seem to shake, in Windows 11 as well as Windows 10.
As for the ‘Process1 Initialization Failed’ problem, Neowin does point out that Microsoft has a cure for that particular error – though the catch is that it’s for Windows 7 officially (via an old support document).
The method suggests booting with a Windows installation USB drive, then deleting the problematic Bootcat.cache file, before restarting the PC. We’re not sure that’s a good idea, though – and certainly not something for those less confident with PCs to try – but more tech-savvy types could always attempt it as a last resort if desperate.
Hopefully, Microsoft will be looking into these issues, and fixes will be implemented as needed. Although these days, we get the sense that Microsoft is focusing far more on Windows 11 than Windows 10, what with the latter getting no more features from now on (save for, perhaps, the odd very minor tweak).
Still, on the brighter side, no more features should mean fewer bugs being introduced – in theory, anyway.
1 844.742.7448 
Email Us
Remote Support 
Contact
