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Waze could tempt you from Google Maps with these super-useful driving alerts
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Waze will receive a nice quality-of-life update that’ll help you drive around more safely as well as let you know of any recent changes to the road.

The patch is slated to be released on Android and iOS devices across the globe, but the rollout won’t happen all at once. Instead, the six features will come out in pieces throughout the coming months. It’s a little complicated, but once you break the announcement down, it all makes sense.

When it comes to safety, the app will notify you in advance of any emergency vehicles on your route. That way you’ll know when to shift lanes or take a detour. This tool is currently making its way to users living in the US, Canada, Mexico, and France, with, Waze promises, more countries coming soon.

Waze's new speed limit and emergency vehicle alerts

(Image credit: Waze/Google)

Our favorite update out of the bunch has to be Waze deciding it'll shout out upcoming changes to speed limits in case they’re about to suddenly decrease. It's a pretty helpful tool whenever you want to avoid getting caught in a speed trap. Third, the developers are expanding hazard detection to include speed bumps, sharp turns, and toll booths. The speed limit warnings as well as the hazard detection upgrade are currently rolling out to all users. 

This next set of features is scheduled to launch down the line.

Normally, whenever someone opens a navigation app, it’s because they want to get to their destination ASAP. Well, later this month, you’ll be given the option to take more scenic routes. They may not be the fastest way to get home, but at least, you'll have the opportunity to take your favored path instead.

Most drivers can agree that finding a place to park in a city can be an utter nightmare. To make finding the sweet spot less stressful, Waze is teaming up with software company Flash to provide information on parking garages. The app will tell you how much it costs to park at a location, whether it’s covered or open to the elements, if there’s a valet, and more. 

The announcement states the new data feed is seeing a limited release. It will provide info on a select group of 30,000 parking garages across major cities in the United States and Canada.

Waze's new parking garage feed and alternative routes tool

(Image credit: Google/Waze)

The last feature will teach people how to navigate a roundabout. Waze states they’ll point out when to enter, when to switch lanes, and “where to exit”. Android users will receive the roundabout tool later this month, however, iPhone owners will have to wait until later in the year to get the same upgrade.

We reached out to Google, which is Waze’s parent company, asking if there are plans for future expansions and if it’s going to add the same features to the app’s web page. This story will be updated at a later time.

Waze's latest patch looks like it'll keep a lot of people safe, but accidents happen all the time. To keep your insurance rates from skyrocketing, check out TechRadar's list of the best dash cams for 2024. You never know when you'll need one.

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Microsoft Edge on Android could soon get extensions to tempt you away from Chrome
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Will browser extension support be enough to tempt Android users away from Google Chrome to the welcoming arms of Microsoft Edge? We might soon find out, as it looks like Edge is now prepping extension support for its mobile app.

This comes from some digging into the Edge for Android code by tipster @Leopeva64 (via 9to5Google). For now the functionality is hidden behind a flag in the early testing versions of the app, but it could reach the main app as early as March.

Certain extensions – for switching to dark mode, for blocking ads, and for changing the speed of media playback – are already showing up on a rudimentary extensions page, which is another sign that the feature is launching soon.

From the screenshots that have been posted so far, it looks as though a new Extensions button will be added to the menu that pops up when you tap the three horizontal lines, down in the lower-right corner of the Edge for Android interface.

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Extended features

Firefox extensions

Firefox recently added extension support to its Android app (Image credit: Future)

You may well know how useful third-party extensions can be on a desktop browser, adding all kinds of additional tools and features to your browser of choice – from changing the way tabs are arranged, to letting you annotate webpages, to managing website volume.

While there are a huge number of extensions available for Chrome on the desktop, Chrome and other browsers have typically shied away from adding extension support on mobile, for a host of different reasons: the screens are smaller, there are fewer system resources available, the interface is simpler, and so on.

Now though, the situation is changing. Firefox recently reintroduced extension support in its Android app, and now it looks as though Edge will follow suit – in an attempt to try and chip away at Chrome's market share. Chrome is the default on around two-thirds of mobile devices worldwide, though that includes iPhones as well as Android devices.

You won't be able to use all the existing Edge extensions on Android – clearly not all of them will work, and the developers will have to adapt them for the different platform – but watch this space for these add-ons arriving on Microsoft's browser.

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Stopped using ChatGPT? These six handy new features might tempt you back
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ChatGPT's AI smarts might be improving rapidly, but the chatbot's basic user interface can still baffle beginners. Well, that's about to improve with six ChatGPT tweaks that should give its usability a welcome boost.

OpenAI says the tweaks to ChatGPT's user experience will be rolling out “over the next week”, with four of the improvements available to all users and two of them targeted at ChatGPT Plus subscribers (which costs $ 20 / £16 / AU$ 28 per month).

Starting with those improvements for all users, OpenAI says you'll now get “prompt examples” at the beginning of a new chat because a “blank page can be intimidating”. ChatGPT already shows a few example prompts on its homepage (below), but we should soon see these appear in new chats, too.

Secondly, ChatGPT will also give you “suggested replies”. Currently, when the chatbot has answered your question, you're simply left with the 'Send a message' box. If you're a seasoned ChatGPT user, you'll have gradually learned how to improve your ChatGPT prompts and responses, but this should speed up the process for beginners.  

A third small improvement you'll see soon is that you'll stay logged into ChatGPT for much longer. OpenAI says “you'll no longer be logged out every two weeks”, and when you do log in you'll be “greeted with a much more welcoming page”. It isn't clear how long log-ins will now last, but we're interested to see how big an improvement that landing page is.

A bigger fourth change, though, is the introduction of keyboard shortcuts (below). While there are only six of these (see below), some of them could certainly be handy timesavers – for example, there are shortcuts to 'copy last response' (⌘/Ctrl + Shift + C) and 'toggle sidebar' (⌘/Ctrl + Shift + C). There's also an extra one to bring up the full list (⌘/Ctrl + /).

A laptop screen on a blue background showing the ChatGPT keyboard shortcuts

(Image credit: Future)

What about those two improvements for ChatGPT Plus subscribers? The biggest one is the ability to upload multiple files for ChatGPT to analyze. You'll soon be able to ask the chatbot to analyze data and serve up insights across multiple files. This will be available in the Code Interpreter Beta, a new tool that lets you convert files, make charts, perform data analysis, trim videos and more.

Lastly, ChatGPT Plus subscribers will finally find that the chatbot reverts to its GPT-4 model by default. Currently, there's a toggle at the top of the ChatGPT screen that lets you switch from the older GPT-3.5 model to GPT-4 (which is only available to Plus subscribers), but this will now remain switched to the latter if you're subscriber. 

Collectively, these six changes certainly aren't as dramatic as the move to GPT-4 in March, which delivered a massive upgrade – for example, OpenAI stated that GPT-4 is “40% more likely to provide factual content” than GPT-3.5. But they should make it more approachable for beginners, who. may have left the chatbot behind after the initial hype.

Analysis: ChatGPT hits an inevitable plateau

A laptop screen on a blue background showing the ChatGPT homepage

The move to GPT-4 (above), which is only available to Plus subscribers, was the last major change to ChatGPT. (Image credit: Future)

ChatGPT's explosive early hype saw it become the fastest-growing consumer app of all time – according to a UBS study, it hit 100 million monthly active users in January, just two months after it launched. 

But that hype is now on the wane, with Similarweb reporting that ChatGPT traffic was down 10% in June – so it needs some new tools and features to keep people returning.

These six improvements won't see the chatbot hit the headlines again, but they will bring much-needed improvements to ChatGPT's usability and accessibility. Other recent boosts like the arrival of ChatGPT on Android will also help get casual users tinkering again, as ChatGPT alternatives like Google Bard continue to improve.

While the early AI chatbot hype has certainly fizzled out, thanks to reports that the ChatGPT will always be prone to making stuff up and some frustrations that it's increasingly producing 'dumber' answers, these AI helpers can certainly still be useful tools when used in the right way.

If you're looking for some inspiration to get you re-engaged, check out our guides to some great real-world ChatGPT examples, some extra suggestions of what ChatGPT can do, and our pick of the best ChatGPT extensions for Chrome.

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Incoming Windows 11 Task Manager update could finally tempt you to upgrade
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Microsoft is planning to introduce some additional options into the current Task Manager, alongside other updates and new features planned for its Windows 11 operating system, at least according to a slew of leaks that have appeared in the last week.

A good batch of these can be credited to Twitter user Albacore, an established and typically reliable source for Windows leaks, who previously reported that 'Stickers' will be introduced for your desktop wallpaper, as well as changes rolling out to the current notification system. 

On top of this, it seems that the current Task Manager in Windows 11 will also get some additional features, including the ability to get dedicated information regarding “App health” and “Battery health”.  This information was discovered within the recent Dev Channel build 22543 by another well established Windows leaker, FireCubeStudios

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It seems that additional features could also be included when the update is released to the public. As Neowin points out in its own reporting, Microsoft developers have commented to state this isn't a final design, so we could also get options relating to Startup applications. 

This isn't the first time we heard that Microsoft may be looking to revamp the Task Manager from its previously dated state, with some alterations being introduced in build 22538, but with this being a work in progress, it could be a while until this is fully rolled out to the public.

Analysis: These tweaks are more important than ever

While they're nowhere near as important as actual performance-based improvements and patches being developed to fix ongoing issues, these planned updates to streamline the Windows 11 experience for everyday users shouldn't be overlooked. 

The vast majority of folks who use the Windows 11 operating system won't be experts or enthusiasts, so simplifying the more 'complex' areas of the OS will hopefully streamline the process of new users getting comfortable using it. This is especially so in the case of people who have avoided upgrading from Windows 10 despite having compatible hardware out of the fear of needing to relearn how to use their laptop or desktop PC.

There's still a lot to be resolved with the Windows 11 operating system before tech-savvy users are happy to make the upgrade, but with its new, modern look and general quality-of-life improvements, this is becoming a great choice for those with less experience using computers who don't want to be reliant on others to address issues they might face. 

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