Microsoft is making video calls creepier in Windows 11

Windows 11 is getting a new AI-powered eye contact feature for video calls, but rather than making these calls feel more natural, it actually looks pretty creepy.

Announced at its recent event on the future of hybrid work, this new feature aims to use artificial intelligence to make it look like your eyes are looking directly at the person you’re video calling.

Most webcams, including ones built into laptops, sit above the screen, but when we’re on video calls, we’re usually looking at the video of the person we’re talking to, instead of looking directly at the camera. This leads to callers appearing to look down when talking, rather than making eye contact, as most of us would when talking to people in person.

Microsoft’s attempt to fix this by adjusting the video caller’s pupils so they face the screen, in a bid to make video calls, as Windows chief Panos Panay claims, “more human,” is certainly interesting, but from the results we’ve seen so far, the effect appears more unnerving than the company intends.

GIF video showing the eye tracking feature

(Image credit: Microsoft)

Analysis: AI has its limits – and this is one of them

In the video clip Microsoft showed, a woman speaks on a video call, and her pupils do indeed make it appear that she’s looking at the screen. However, there are slight glitches that even when subtle, make it clear that something isn’t quite right.

It’s a classic example of the ‘uncanny valley’, where an attempt to synthesise an artificial human causes a sense of uneasiness in real humans, often because of imperfections which tell us that what we’re looking at is fake.

In fact, the uncanny valley can be more pronounced in more realistic attempts, as we subconsciously pick up more minor details, which then increases the impact of the effect, and that’s something that appears to have happened here.

By trying to make video calls in Windows 11 “more human,” Microsoft has actually done the opposite, and when you notice the little issues and glitches, you’re unable to see past the artificiality of it all. Ironically, it seems that this new feature is actually more distracting then if a caller was not looking at the camera.

Thankfully this feature will likely be optional, and there may be future updates that make it look more realistic, but at the moment we can’t imagine many people using it, and it shows that while AI has many fantastic uses, it also has its limits.

  • Check out our pick of the best laptops that you can use for remote video calls

Via TechCrunch

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Microsoft Edge update will stop you making an embarrassing blunder

Embarrassing spelling and grammar mistakes will soon be a thing of the past in Microsoft Edge as Microsoft is now rolling out a built-in grammar editor for its browser.

Microsoft Editor is the software giant’s Grammarly competitor and while it’s normally accessed via a browser extension, the company has now decided to directly integrate it into Edge.

Just like with other writing software, Microsoft Editor provides users with both grammar and punctuation corrections and suggestions as they write. In Edge, Editor will be available in over 20 languages but the writing tool will only provide feedback on the main language used in the browser.

In addition to its existing features, Microsoft has said that it will soon begin rolling out text predictions in English, Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese in Editor in order to help users not only write better but also faster.

Web Select

Besides its new Microsoft Editor integration, Microsoft is also bringing another new feature to Edge called web select though it was initially known as smart copy when it was first announced two years ago.

Web select makes it easier to select formatted content like tables, images and text on the web. The feature allows users to quickly select entire paragraphs in their original formatting or copy only the cells they want to in a table. From here, you can then paste content with its original formatting into a Word document or into OneNote to reference later.

While web select will likely be a useful feature for Edge users, it has certainly taken quite a while to arrive in Microsoft’s browser. The company first began testing the feature all the way back in November of 2020.

It’s worth noting that web select isn’t the same as web capture which allows users to take screenshots of webpages and annotate them before sharing or saving them.

In order to try out Microsoft Editor and web select in Microsoft Edge, you first need to make sure you're running the latest version of Microsoft’s browser. To check if you are, you can click on the three-dot menu in the top right corner of the browser and choose Help & feedback and then About Microsoft Edge.

Via XDA

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This long-lost Microsoft Edge feature may be making a comeback

Keeping control of all your most-needed tabs and windows in Microsoft Edge could soon be a whole lot easier.

Spotted by Redditor Leopeva64-2, one of the most recent Edge Canary builds saw a mention of Workspaces, a feature allowing users to group together their tabs and windows within the browser.

The finding was particularly curious as the feature was previously thought to be dead in the water, with no mention of Workspaces in Microsoft Edge since its initial reveal back in April 2021.

Microsoft Edge Workspaces

The Edge Canary build included the option to create and edit new and existing Workspaces as part of the browser's Appearance settings. Although the button to toggle these features didn't appear to be available, its presence suggests the tool will be arriving soon.

Workspaces looked to operate alongside Microsoft's existing Collections tool, but instead of the latter's ability to save individual tabs, the new addition would let users name certain tabs or windows, as well as customizing them with a certain color to categorize.

It would also allow users to keep groups of work and personal browser tabs separate, with each Workspace containing multiple tabs, meaning that even if you close an Edge window without deleting a workspace, it will remain available the next time you launch the browser.

For now, the feature seems limited to Canary builds, but given the progress, could possibly appear in a new version of Microsoft Edge soon.

The launch would be the latest in a long line of features aimed at making Microsoft Edge easier to use for customers everywhere. Recently, Microsoft announced its Task Manager tool will now be able to display exactly what Microsoft Edge processes are using what amount of memory on your device – displaying a list of processes under the browser, including specific tabs, extensions and subframes – and will now be able to select any of these to close individually.

Edge is also set to soon get a new Performance Detector feature which will help browser users debug performance issues caused by common problems such as running multiple windows or tabs, as well as any issues caused by unnecessary tabs or the use of extensions that may be hogging bandwidth.

Via OnMSFT

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This long-lost Microsoft Edge feature may be making a comeback

Keeping control of all your most-needed tabs and windows in Microsoft Edge could soon be a whole lot easier.

Spotted by Redditor Leopeva64-2, one of the most recent Edge Canary builds saw a mention of Workspaces, a feature allowing users to group together their tabs and windows within the browser.

The finding was particularly curious as the feature was previously thought to be dead in the water, with no mention of Workspaces in Microsoft Edge since its initial reveal back in April 2021.

Microsoft Edge Workspaces

The Edge Canary build included the option to create and edit new and existing Workspaces as part of the browser's Appearance settings. Although the button to toggle these features didn't appear to be available, its presence suggests the tool will be arriving soon.

Workspaces looked to operate alongside Microsoft's existing Collections tool, but instead of the latter's ability to save individual tabs, the new addition would let users name certain tabs or windows, as well as customizing them with a certain color to categorize.

It would also allow users to keep groups of work and personal browser tabs separate, with each Workspace containing multiple tabs, meaning that even if you close an Edge window without deleting a workspace, it will remain available the next time you launch the browser.

For now, the feature seems limited to Canary builds, but given the progress, could possibly appear in a new version of Microsoft Edge soon.

The launch would be the latest in a long line of features aimed at making Microsoft Edge easier to use for customers everywhere. Recently, Microsoft announced its Task Manager tool will now be able to display exactly what Microsoft Edge processes are using what amount of memory on your device – displaying a list of processes under the browser, including specific tabs, extensions and subframes – and will now be able to select any of these to close individually.

Edge is also set to soon get a new Performance Detector feature which will help browser users debug performance issues caused by common problems such as running multiple windows or tabs, as well as any issues caused by unnecessary tabs or the use of extensions that may be hogging bandwidth.

Via OnMSFT

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Meta is making Messenger a lot more like Slack

Meta has announced that Slack-like shortcuts are coming to Messenger to make it easier to get the attention of an entire group chat.

Just like in Google Workspace and many other online services today, typing “@” and a person's name will tag that specific person in a group chat or document. Now though with the new @everyone shortcut, Messenger users on iOS and Android will be able to ensure that everyone in a chat sees what they have to say.

When you start a message with @everyone in Messenger, all of the participants in the chat will be notified which is perfect for group reminders, impromptu get-togethers or when you need everyone's help to answer a specific question.

In addition to the new @everyone shortcut, Meta is rolling out its new /silent shortcut for those times when you want to say something in a group chat but don't want to wake up others with a notification or disturb those who live in different time zones. This shortcut is also available on Instagram though on the service it is written as “@silent” instead.

Messenger shortcuts

Meta's new @everyone and /silent shortcuts are just the beginning though as Facebook's parent company plans to add even more shortcuts to Messenger going forward according to a new blog post.

Messenger users in the US will soon be able to use the /pay shortcut to make it easier to send and receive money directly from their one-one-one chats. To use the shortcut, simply type /pay to send or request money securely without fees.

GIFs are another way that users like to express themselves which is why Meta plans to add its new /gif shortcut to Messenger on iOS. Typing /gif followed by a topic at the beginning of a message will pull up a row of GIFs that users can choose from to insert into their chats.

Likewise on Messenger for iOS, Meta plans to roll out its /shrug and /tableflip shortcuts so that users don't have to type out the old-school text based tableflip “(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻” and shrug “¯\_(ツ)_/¯” emoticons.

While @everyone, /silent and /gif could be quite useful for Messenger users, /shrug and /tableflip are more of a throwback to a simpler time before emoji became what they are today.

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Microsoft reckons businesses are making a few fatal hybrid working mistakes

Microsoft has published the results of its latest Work Trend Index survey, highlighting the various challenges businesses encounter as they transition to new working models.

Based on a survey of 31,000 workers across the globe, and trillions of signals drawn down from Microsoft 365 and LinkedIn, the report identifies a series of trends brought about by the shift towards hybrid working.

The broad conclusion is that the calculations have changed for workers when it comes to selecting an employer, and businesses must react accordingly with new policies that support the demand for greater flexibility and autonomy.

Times are changing

Microsoft says one of the greatest mistakes businesses are making is to attempt to revert to old methodologies as society begins to return to normality in many corners of the globe.

Specifically, the company cited the push to bring employees back to the office full-time, driven by fears shared by more than half (54%) of senior executives about the ability for workers to remain productive at home.

At least half of companies plan to mandate a full-time return to the office within the next twelve months, data collected by Microsoft suggests, but a similar proportion of workers (52%) said they would prefer a hybrid or fully remote model.

Instead of tying all employees to a specific style of working, companies should be attempting to balance the preferences of everyone, Microsoft says. It should be the responsibility of the business to make the office worth the commute.

“There's no erasing the lived experience and lasting impact of the past two years,” said Jared Spataro, CVP Modern Work at Microsoft. “Empowering managers to adapt to new employee expectations helps set businesses up for long term success.”

Another area of concern identified by Microsoft is the negative effects on work-life balance created by the shift away from the traditional nine-to-five and towards a more flexible system, and the knock-on effects on the relationship between team members.

Since the start of the pandemic, there has been a 28% increase in the amount of work taking place outside of typical working hours and a 14% increase over the weekend. Although Microsoft says it is encouraging to see people making use of new freedoms afforded by flexible working, the company took the opportunity to remind businesses that flexibility is not a by-word for “always-on”.

Microsoft also noted that, while the majority (58%) of hybrid workers say they have maintained bonds with their co-workers, just half of remote employees claim to have a “thriving” relationship with their direct team. To address these kinds of issues, the firm suggests companies should take a deliberate approach to ensuring remote and newly-onboarded employees are supported sufficiently and are offered ample opportunity to get to know their colleagues. 

“The shift to a hybrid workplace doesn’t start with new technology or corporate policies. It begins with culture – one that embraces a growth mindset, a willingness to reimagine nearly every aspect of the way work gets done,” concluded Jared Spataro, CVP Modern Work at Microsoft.

“Every employee will need to develop new skills to adapt to this new way of working, and with the right support and tools, hybrid working can unlock potential for a workplace that works for everyone.”

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Microsoft reckons businesses are making a few fatal hybrid working mistakes

Microsoft has published the results of its latest Work Trend Index survey, highlighting the various challenges businesses encounter as they transition to new working models.

Based on a survey of 31,000 workers across the globe, and trillions of signals drawn down from Microsoft 365 and LinkedIn, the report identifies a series of trends brought about by the shift towards hybrid working.

The broad conclusion is that the calculations have changed for workers when it comes to selecting an employer, and businesses must react accordingly with new policies that support the demand for greater flexibility and autonomy.

Times are changing

Microsoft says one of the greatest mistakes businesses are making is to attempt to revert to old methodologies as society begins to return to normality in many corners of the globe.

Specifically, the company cited the push to bring employees back to the office full-time, driven by fears shared by more than half (54%) of senior executives about the ability for workers to remain productive at home.

At least half of companies plan to mandate a full-time return to the office within the next twelve months, data collected by Microsoft suggests, but a similar proportion of workers (52%) said they would prefer a hybrid or fully remote model.

Instead of tying all employees to a specific style of working, companies should be attempting to balance the preferences of everyone, Microsoft says. It should be the responsibility of the business to make the office worth the commute.

“There's no erasing the lived experience and lasting impact of the past two years,” said Jared Spataro, CVP Modern Work at Microsoft. “Empowering managers to adapt to new employee expectations helps set businesses up for long term success.”

Another area of concern identified by Microsoft is the negative effects on work-life balance created by the shift away from the traditional nine-to-five and towards a more flexible system, and the knock-on effects on the relationship between team members.

Since the start of the pandemic, there has been a 28% increase in the amount of work taking place outside of typical working hours and a 14% increase over the weekend. Although Microsoft says it is encouraging to see people making use of new freedoms afforded by flexible working, the company took the opportunity to remind businesses that flexibility is not a by-word for “always-on”.

Microsoft also noted that, while the majority (58%) of hybrid workers say they have maintained bonds with their co-workers, just half of remote employees claim to have a “thriving” relationship with their direct team. To address these kinds of issues, the firm suggests companies should take a deliberate approach to ensuring remote and newly-onboarded employees are supported sufficiently and are offered ample opportunity to get to know their colleagues. 

“The shift to a hybrid workplace doesn’t start with new technology or corporate policies. It begins with culture – one that embraces a growth mindset, a willingness to reimagine nearly every aspect of the way work gets done,” concluded Jared Spataro, CVP Modern Work at Microsoft.

“Every employee will need to develop new skills to adapt to this new way of working, and with the right support and tools, hybrid working can unlock potential for a workplace that works for everyone.”

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Chrome is making it easier to remember passwords and sensitive information

Google is developing a feature within the Chrome password manager that not only allows you to manually save passwords, but also add any useful notes that you would otherwise need to save elsewhere.

This was discovered by Reddit user u/Leopeva64-2 who notes that the feature is currently live within Chrome Canary version 101, the version of the Chrome browser used for beta testing new features before they get released onto the public build.

Manually adding passwords will give you better control over the saved information currently stored in the Google Chrome password manager, preventing you from having to visit every website and load your details in to be saved. This should also make it easier to clean up errors and situations where multiple passwords are saved with no other sign-in information, such as a username or email address.

The Google Chrome password manager with a beta 'add notes' feature

(Image credit: u/Leopeva-2)

It's unlikely you would need to save any password hints in the notes space, as you can simply unhide your password by selecting the eye icon next to it. But this could be useful for saving the answers to security questions, or even the date you signed up and last used the service, if you like to keep your open accounts to a minimum.

Concern was also raised on the same Reddit thread regarding encryption, though it's likely that anything saved within the notes field will be protected along with the actual passwords themselves.

Given most other password management services also encrypt all the information saved alongside the actual passwords, it would be unusual for Google to overlook this, but we won't know for sure until the feature is released to the general public.

As Neowin mentions in its own report, this is a feature that could also roll out to the Microsoft Edge web browser, given it's also based on Chromium. But it's early days for that, and we can't find anything similar to this feature currently being tested within the Microsoft Edge Insider channels.

It has a niche use, but its implementation could allow you to save small nuggets of useful information that are specific to each website you visit, such as payment information or the expiry date on your cards. Given this feature is currently being trialed, there's a chance it might never make it into the public version of the Chrome browser, which would be a real shame.

Analysis: What's the risk?

Any discussion about saving your passwords or private information online is going to cause some concern, but Chrome already has a lot of features that could put your mind at ease. For one, the Chrome password manager can prompt you if a password is weak or appeared in a data breach online.

To check your passwords, users just need to click on the key icon that appears under your profile. or you can manually type 'chrome://settings/passwords' in your address bar. This will also tell you if any of your passwords need to be updated because they've been compromised, though you'll still need to visit every site that the password/email address combination was used on to change them.

If anything, this outlines the importance of having individual passwords for every account you open – and with all of the websites and applications available to us, that can be daunting without a password manager. 

Still, if you're worried about saving any private information to your browser, you'll either need to use a more dedicated service such as LastPass, or simply do things the old-fashioned way and either memorize or jot down your information on paper.

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WhatsApp for Windows 11 is making emoji even easier to use

It would be fair to say that it is the mobile versions of WhatsApp that tend to get the most love and receive new and exciting features fastest. But that is not to say that the web and desktop versions are ignored; far from it.

An excellent case in point in the brand-new update that's currently rolling out to users of the Windows 11 and Windows 10 version of WhatsApp who are signed up to take part in the beta program, and introduces exciting new emoji-related features.

At the moment, you will be familiar with the process of inserting emoji in your message by making use of the emoji picker. This is somewhat different to when you're using WhatsApp on your mobile, where you can switch to an emoji keyboard and also easily access frequently used emoji.

But with this latest update, there is a new option at your disposal: emoji shortcuts. This is very much what it sound like – a quick and easy way to insert emoji that should enable you to compose messages faster than ever. And for anyone who is a touch typist, it will come as a real boon.

Accelerated emoji insertion

The shortcut works when you type a colon followed by a few letters. For instance, type: hello, and a pop-up emoji selection bar will give you the option of quickly selecting the waving hand emoji to insert. As with all forms of auto-complete/text suggestion, you do not have to type a full emoji name in order for it to appear; as soon as you type the letter h, WhatsApp will show you the matching emoji it thinks you might want to use.

If all of this sound familiar, it could well be because you have used the web version of WhatsApp where the feature has been available for a while already. The arrival of this feature in the Universal Windows Platform (UWP) app helps to bring about platform democracy, and reduces the number of differences you'll see when switching between WhatsApp on different platforms.

To enjoy the new feature, you need to be taking part in the WhatsApp beta testing program, and also ensure that you are fully update. Make sure that you have version 2.2206.1.0 of the Universal Windows Platform app installed, and you should be good to go!

Via WABetaInfo

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Windows 11 leak suggests Microsoft is making some big changes

Windows 11 looks set to get some exciting new features in upcoming updates, with a leak emerging that apparently shows off Microsoft’s plans.

As Neowin reports, the leak comes courtesy of Albacore, a Twitter account that's well known for leaking Windows features. In a series of Tweets we were given a glimpse of what are claimed to be some of changes Microsoft is making to Windows 11.

The first is a new ‘Stickers’ feature for Windows 11. Users will be able to edit stickers and add them to the desktop. These stickers can be placed over your desktop wallpaper, and will apparently remain there if you change wallpapers – though Albacore suggests this feature won’t work if you use a slideshow as your background, or if you have multiple monitors.

It’s also not currently clear if these ‘Stickers’ will be purely decorative, or if they could offer some sort of functionality, such as displaying the date and time.

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More changes

Changes are also said to be coming to how notifications are shown in Windows 11. This appears to be an area where Microsoft struggles, as notifications in both Windows 10 and Windows 11 haven’t worked as well as many had hoped, with the notifications either being too distracting, or not distracting enough (and easily missed).

According to Albacore, there will be a new ‘Set priority notifications’ setting, which should hopefully give users more control over what notifications they get. Focus Assist, which is a quick setting for turning off or minimizing notifications, is also getting a new name – it’ll just be known as ‘Focus’.

There will also be new options for the ‘Focus’ setting, allowing you to hide badges on taskbar apps (and stop them flashing) and mute notifications. The aim of this mode is to minimize distractions so you can keep focused on the task at hand.

A new ‘Sustainability’ page is also being added to the Settings app. This will allow you to manage the power settings of your device so that it runs more efficiently, and there's also a link to information about how to safely recycle your device.

The page also has leaf-shape icons, and these look like the'll be used to give your device a rating for how energy-efficient it is.

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It also looks like some form of ‘tablet mode’ will come to Windows 11 that automatically hides the Taskbar when you use your device as a tablet (for example when using a 2-in-1 laptop in its tablet configuration).

It’s not clear when these new features will appear in Windows 11, if indeed they appear at all, but as some have been spotted in early builds it's possible that we could see them in Windows 11’s upcoming major update, known as Sun Valley 2, which is likely to come out in the second half of 2022.


Analysis: tweaks are welcome – but don’t forget the bigger stuff

Assuming this leak proves to be the real deal, these new features would broadly be welcome. While we’re not too sure how useful the Stickers feature will be, giving users more control over notifications, and information on how they can make their device run more efficiently, would certainly be great additions to Windows 11.

However, while it’s nice to get new features and performance tweaks, we don’t want Microsoft to take its eye off the bigger picture. There are still a few things it needs to iron out in Windows 11, including some vital missing features – such as the facility to drag and drop files onto apps pinned to the Taskbar – and we’d like Microsoft to prioritize addressing these issues, rather than worrying about cosmetic changes.

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