Windows 11 Control Panel will be removed soon
Microsoft has confirmed that it Delete control panel from Windows 11. It's been a long time coming, since 2015 to be precise. A recent update to a document on Microsoft's website shows that the legacy app is being removed in favor of the Settings app. Users have criticized the Redmond company for removing the Control Panel, arguing that the Settings app is lacking
Many options available in the old app. The design of the Windows 11 Settings app has also been a subject of criticism, as it has options hidden under several menus, making it difficult to navigate. Microsoft is gradually migrating options from the Control Panel to the Settings app, such as the ability to uninstall Windows updates.
It's unclear when the CP will expire, but it could be retired soon. windows 11 22H4Which is expected to release in late 2024.
Update Google Chrome now to patch critical security exploit
Google has updated Chrome to the following versions: 128.0.6613.84 or 128.0.6613.85 for Windows, macOS, and Linux. The update patches 38 security vulnerabilities related to passwords, fonts, autofill, and more. It also includes a fix for a zero-day exploit. This is the ninth zero-day security issue discovered in Chrome this year.
This issue, tracked as CVE-2024-7971, was discovered by Microsoft. Google has been very vague about this bug, it only says that it is related to the V8 JavaScript engine in the browser, specifically, type confusion. What is even more worrying is that this vulnerability has already been exploited by hackers. The vulnerability has also been patched on Chrome for Android and iOS, and users are advised to update their browsers as soon as possible to protect themselves from attacks.
Apple Podcasts launches for web browsers
Podcast fans now have a new way to access their favorite shows and episodes on desktop. Apple Podcasts is now supported On all web browsersThese include Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Apple Safari.
Avid listeners can visit https://podcasts.apple.com/ and start listening to their favorite shows. Users can sync their subscriptions and data across devices like iPhone, iPad or Mac by signing in to their Apple account. The web version of Apple Podcasts is pretty basic, you can play/pause the audio stream, adjust the volume, view episode notes and play the next part. Notably, it lacks support for transcripts, aka closed captions or subtitles, which are available in the Podcasts app for macOS, iOS and iPadOS.
Windows recall coming in October
Microsoft is still working on Windows Recall, the controversial feature that takes a snapshot of your screen every five seconds. Its purpose is to collect user data and store it on their computer, process the data, and let them interact with something in their usage history. It's all AI-powered. Security experts and users had criticized the feature as it could expose personal data like images, videos, documents, browsing patterns, and other data, which could be stolen by malware. Microsoft had mitigated the risks by preventing the app from capturing data like passwords, credit card information, etc., but it still didn't convince privacy enthusiasts. Eventually, Microsoft backed down, removing Windows Recall when CoPilot+ PC was launched a few months ago.
But, it appears that Microsoft intends to bring AI apps. windows recall It will be launched in October 2024, but only for users of the Windows Insider Program. It is possible that the AI-powered feature may be made available in the stable version of Windows 11 in 2025.
Microsoft Teams is now a unified app for all users
Microsoft has finally solved a problem that was bothering users for a long time. It has launched a unified app for Teams. To provide some context, Microsoft Teams was launched for all users, regardless of whether one has a Work or Education account or just a personal account. But, the app was divided into two parts, one for personal use, while the other was for Education and Work. This was only part of the problem, as Windows comes with both apps, and when searching for Teams alone, both apps could appear, which was quite confusing for users.
New Microsoft Teams app Once these issues are resolved, anyone will be able to sign in to their account in the app. Interestingly, the app also supports multiple accounts, and also lets users join meetings as guests. The app also brings a community feature exclusively for individual users.
Google Keep adds support for Gemini AI
Google Keep has received AI-powered features thanks to Google Gemini. The note-taking app, which is quite useful for creating to-do lists, now lets you create lists using AI. This is possible through a feature labeled, “Help me make a list“, which is available when you select Create New Note.
When you choose the option, you have to describe the kind of list you want to create, for example, create a grocery list for a healthy dinner. The app will then create a list according to what you asked. This feature is currently being tested in the Android version of Google Keep.
Microsoft launches its most powerful AI model
Microsoft has announced that it is launching it. Phi-3.5 series language model for its artificial intelligence products. This includes the Phi-3.5-mini-instruct, Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct, and Phi-3.5-vision-instruct models.
The Phi-3.5-Mini-Instruct model is designed for code generation, solving mathematical problems, logic-based reasoning, and supports 3.820 billion parameters. It outperformed models such as Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct and Mistral-7B-Instruct in tests. Phi-3.5 Mixture of Experts has 42 billion active parameters, combining multiple models into one, demonstrating efficient code understanding, and handling multilingual language content. Phi-3.5 Vision Instruct is designed for text and image processing tasks such as optical character recognition (OCR), graphic recognition including diagrams and tables. It can also analyze content in multiple frames, which can be useful for analysing content in videos and summarizing videos. These can give Microsoft a significant boost in the world of commercial AI apps and research to compete with products from OpenAI, Google, and Meta.
