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Facebook Messenger gets its biggest ever update – including a major privacy boost
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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

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Message editing in the Facebook Messenger app

Message editing is coming to the Messenger app (Image credit: Meta)
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Photo layouts in the Facebook Messenger app

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.

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Microsoft’s Copilot chatbot will get 6 big upgrades soon – including ChatGPT’s new brain
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Microsoft has announced that Copilot – the AI chatbot formerly known as Bing Chat – is soon to get half a dozen impressive upgrades.

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

Dall-E 3

(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.

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Meta is planning on introducing dozens of chatbot personas – including a Futurama favourite
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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. 

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Windows 11 gets a bunch of small but useful changes – including something nifty for Notepad
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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.

Via Neowin

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Windows 10 update is causing lots of problems – including nasty crashes
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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.

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Windows 11 just got loads of new features including one that iPhone owners will love
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Windows 11 has just been graced with a big update, albeit not a full feature update, but one of Microsoft’s so-called ‘Moment’ upgrades.

Moment 2 to be precise, and if that sounds familiar, that’s because Microsoft released it in testing (as an optional update) at the end of February. Now, however, it has arrived as a full release, which means it’s coming to all Windows 11 PCs as we type this.

If you haven’t already been offered what is formally known as patch KB5023706, then you can head to Windows Update and check for new updates, whereupon you should see Moment 2 ready to roll.

The update introduces a raft of new features, including improvements for those using Windows 11 with a touchscreen (a touch-optimized taskbar). Another big move is Phone Link for iOS, giving iPhone owners the ability to hook up their handset to the desktop (giving access to iMessage correspondence from their PC).

Windows 11 will now provide energy efficiency recommendations and additional help when troubleshooting issues with your PC (via ‘Quick Assist’). On top of that, the system tray has been given a fresh lick of paint in the form of a rounded focus (rather than square, when mousing over icons bottom-right, to be more in keeping with the rest of Windows 11’s modern look).

Accessibility features have also been improved, most notably with enhanced support for braille devices, and Voice Access getting new commands.

As well as all the feature additions, KB5023706 comes boasting the usual slew of security fixes provided by Microsoft with these monthly cumulative updates.

Analysis: Plenty of features and hopefully no bugs

So, all the testing of the preview version of the Moment 2 update is now done and dusted, and with no major bugbears sighted, everything should go smoothly with the upgrade now it has become available – in theory. Of course, when a much wider rollout happens, with a lot more PCs involved, fresh bugs can still make their unwelcome presence felt.

Nothing’s guaranteed even with finished updates for Windows, as we’ve seen in the past. Windows 10 in particular has seen the release of patches with some serious problems lurking within (we’re talking file deletion, if you recall that memorable and very unfortunate episode).

Another thing you might also recall is when Microsoft revealed the preview version of Moment 2, the company talked about the ChatGPT-powered Bing being put on the taskbar, giving us the impression that this was a full integration of the AI chatbot with the Windows 11 interface.

As we’ve discussed in the past, though, this wasn’t the case – the implementation of this ‘feature’ (ahem) was simply a link in the search box that brought up Bing in the Edge browser.

Users were pretty disappointed about that, and the Bing icon swiftly vanished, with Microsoft subsequently assuring us that the chatbot hadn’t been ditched from the taskbar, but was in a rotation with other search highlights. And wouldn’t you know, just as Moment 2 is rolling out, we can now see the Bing icon in our search box once again (doubtless just temporarily, though). Interesting timing…

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Windows 11’s new emoji – including Clippy – won’t be coming to Windows 10
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Windows 11 has just got some nifty looking new emoji, as you may recall, which are Fluent-style and modern-looking affairs – but these won’t be coming to Windows 10.

They landed earlier this week as part of a preview update for Windows 11, so are officially still only in testing even on that OS, although Microsoft will send them fully live for Windows 11 in December (on Patch Tuesday, which will be December 14).

The emoji – which include the paperclip being replaced by Clippy, the iconic assistant who pestered, er, we mean helped us in Word back in the day – will not arrive in Windows 10, or at least that appears to be Microsoft’s plan as reported by Windows Latest.

The tech site claims that Microsoft has no intention of drafting the modern emoji over to Windows 10, and that they will remain exclusive to Windows 11, at least for the time being anyway. Windows Latest does further observe that Microsoft might change its mind in the future, though.

Analysis: Emoji aren’t high on most folks’ Windows 10 wish-lists

Of course, many Windows 10 users will say that they won’t especially be losing much sleep over the lack of refreshed emoji, and that’s a fair point. They aren’t a huge deal, and not a reason anyone would be upgrading to Windows 11, that’s for sure.

That said, they are nice to have, and it wouldn’t be much of an effort to pipe them over to Windows 10. Maybe Microsoft feels that they’d stick out a bit as odd, as the old operating system hasn’t had the benefit of the Fluent Design-style makeover that Windows 11 arrived with.

Whatever the reasoning right now, we could see them ported over eventually, as the report observes. In the meantime, Windows 10 users will just have to stick with their tired old vanilla emoji.

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