Software & Apps News - Page 3
Microsoft's next AI feature for Windows 11's Paint app could be a real stroke of genius
Microsoft might be planning a very smart AI-powered feature for the Paint app in Windows 11.
If you recall, yesterday we reported on clues that pointed to a mysterious AI feature in Paint, and PhantomOfEarth on X (formerly Twitter) posted that this capability might be something called 'LiveCanvas.'
While the leaker didn't profess to know what this could be, MS Power User (via TechRadar) made the interesting observation that LiveCanvas is a generative AI tool in Leonardo.Ai.
Some Windows 11 users can't install February update because 'something didn't go as planned'
Windows 11 users are encountering a bug that prevents the installation of the February cumulative update (KB5034765), and Microsoft has acknowledged this problem.
Bleeping Computer noticed that Windows 11 23H2 systems (and 22H2) were in some cases reporting installation failures with the download stopping just short of 100%, and throwing up an '0x800F0922' error code.
That's a typically meaningless stop error of the kind we're often treated to when Windows goes off the rails, but this time, Windows 11 does provide a more informative error message afterwards: "Something didn't go as planned. No need to worry - undoing changes."
Windows 11 Paint app could get another AI feature, but what it'll do is a mystery so far
Windows 11's Paint app could get another AI feature, or at least that's what the grapevine is suggesting.
Windows Latest grabbed the scoop on this one, with the website spotting a file which is called 'NPUDetect' in the Paint client.
What does that mean? Well, as you're doubtless aware, Paint already has a Cocreator AI feature (which can knock up images as needed, using Dall-E 3 which is seriously impressive), so it's presumably hinting that another AI capability is inbound. One that will make use of the NPUs which are coming on-board modern CPUs (such as Intel's Meteor Lake laptop chips).
FurMark 2 has officially launched: melt your GPU by trying it out now
FurMark 2 is now official and available for download right now from here. The new GPU stress testing, diagnostics, and benchmarking tool has been popular for years now, but its successor is here to melt your GPU even harder.
The new FurMark 2 was created using the latest cross-platform tool called GeeXLab with a GUI, while the command tool uses GeeXLab SDK. You've got support with FurMark 2 and Windows 64-bit, Windows 32-bit, and even Linux 64-bit with operating systems.
The next update for FurMark 2 will include support for Linux 32-bit and Raspberry Pi, with possible MacOS support coming in the near future. Future 3D APIs can be added into FurMark 2, including OpenGL 2.1 and OpenGL 3.0/3.1 APIs, but were most likely omitted from the v2.0 release because they're not cross-platform compatible.
Continue reading: FurMark 2 has officially launched: melt your GPU by trying it out now (full post)
Microsoft tried to get Apple to use Bing on the iPhone for years
While it had previously been reported that Apple had been a potential buyer for Microsoft's Bing search engine business, it wasn't entirely clear just how much Microsoft had tried to make a deal happen. That is, until now.
The new information comes after new documents were shared as part of the US Justice Department's lawsuit which claims that Google has a monopoly in the search market. As part of Google's argument that isn't the case, it says that Apple was offered Bing as a new default search engine for the iPhone. Google says Apple decided that Bing was subpar compared to its own offering. adding that the mere fact that Apple had to consider the options suggests there is indeed competition.
Microsoft reportedly pitched Apple on switching to using Bing as the default search option for users in 2009, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2018, and 2020. But with there being no sign of a deal being done. Microsoft also tried to get Apple to simply buy Bing as a whole. Another option was some kind of joint venture that would have seen Apple and Microsoft work on Bing together. This went down in 2018, with Apple ultimately deciding against any kind of deal.
Continue reading: Microsoft tried to get Apple to use Bing on the iPhone for years (full post)
X rolls video and audio calls out to everyone whether or not they pay for Premium
Ever since current owner Elon Musk bought Twitter and turned it into X, he's been trying to create what some call the everything app. Such an app would become the central focus for a whole range of activities with China's WeChat being the example most people think of. The app is a social network but also used for a variety of things in the country, including payments. One of the features that Musk had X's engineers add was support for video and audio calling, but it was limited to only those who pay for X Premium. Now, that's all changed.
First announced by an X engineer before being confirmed by current CEO Linda Yaccarino, the change means that everyone who wants to take advantage of video and audio calls now can, with X also adding the feature to choose to allow calls from everyone or limit the number of people who call to just those who they follow, are verified, or are being followed. Choosing to only allow calls from people you follow is also an option.
Checking to see if your account now has the feature and managing who can call you is simple. Just open the X app on your phone, tap your profile picture, and choose the Privacy and Safety option in the app's settings. The calling feature is for some reason hidden inside the Direct Messages option, and that's where you can select the different settings to tailor the calling feature to match your specific requirements.
Google Chrome is getting generative AI features for form-filling and more
If you're a Google Chrome web browser user you're about to benefit from not just one, but three different AI capabilities that will do everything from automatically organizing your open tabs to writing text for you the next time that you need to fill in a form online. The new AI features are part of a new Chrome M121 release and are experimental, which means that they could change or just not work. But the fun is in the finding out.
There are three different features all announced under one AI-based blog post and they're all set to be useful to varying degrees. The first will automatically suggest and create tab groups based on the tabs that a user has open which could be useful when you're researching something but also want to keep those tabs separate from where you're ordering your groceries.
Chrome already has generative AI wallpapers on the Google Pixel 8 devices thanks to Android 14 and now the same text-to-image technology is now coming to Chrome. It'll create you new custom themes based on a mood or subject, or you can just give it a color or style and let it work its magic. The feature could be huge for people who just want a new theme but have no idea what they want it to look like - just let the generative AI do the creative thinking for you.
NVIDIA App hands-on, Team Green delivers the GeForce GPU software we've been waiting for
Hardware and software go hand-in-hand, and the latter often gets overlooked. NVIDIA has been creating powerful software and tools for its GeForce RTX hardware and GPUs for years, from the first Control Panel to recent efforts like RTX Broadcast. Not to mention timely and robust driver support.
However, in recent years, it's all felt a little disjointed thanks to the GeForce Experience app used for updating drivers and optimizing games being completely separate from the NVIDIA Control Panel that offers deep drivel-level customization tools and the best display and color calibration suite currently available for Windows.
It doesn't help that Control Panel looks like an app for Windows XP and GeForce Experience, like an app from the mid-2000s. To say that we've been waiting for something like the NVIDIA App would be an understatement; something that would overhaul the GeForce Experience and expand its capabilities.
Signal now allows people to keep phone numbers private and choose usernames instead
Signal has long been one of the more popular secure instant messaging platforms and it's the one that has also required that people use a phone number by way of identification. That also meant that people needed to share their number if they wanted to connect with anyone on the platform which is less than ideal. But now, that's all changing.
Signal has now confirmed via a blog post that it is going to start hiding phone numbers as default, making it easier than ever for people to protect their privacy. In its place will be a username, and that's also how people will be able to identify people in the future. The username isn't a permanent handle however, with Signal saying that it is simply a way to initiate contact on the network without sharing a phone number.
The announcement also comes as Signal confirms that it is launching a new, optional privacy setting that will allow people to stop themselves from being searchable using a phone number at all. The result is that unless someone knows an exact username, they won't be able to contact people who don't want to be.
WhatApp now lets you format your text in some new ways including lists and more
There are plenty of instant messaging platforms to choose from right now and most phones have first-party options built in, including Apple's wildly popular iMessage. But WhatsApp is also a great option and it's free, encrypted, and available across every platform you're likely to think of. And now it has some new text formatting options that make it easier than ever to get the point across.
While WhatsApp already offered Markdown-like syntax for formatting text, it now has four new options to go with bold, italic, strikethrough, and monospace. The new options are bulleted lists, numbered lists, block quotes, and inline code.
The first of those is fairly obvious and users can create a bulleted list by placing a '-' before a line. Numbered lists are the same, but a number followed by a period replaces the hyphen. All simple stuff and great for sending things like shopping lists to your significant other.