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The latest and most important Software & Apps news.

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This Windows feature hasn't been updated for 30 years and it was only meant to be temporary

Kosta Andreadis | Mar 27, 2024 12:29 AM CDT

If you've ever formatted a disk using Windows, you've probably noticed that the UI and design of the Format tool haven't changed in a while. In fact, it's basically the same as it was in 1994 - which is impressive considering so much of everything else in Windows has changed. However, it was only meant to be temporary.

This Windows feature hasn't been updated for 30 years and it was only meant to be temporary

Microsoft programmer Dave W. Plummer shared some history of the Format tool and UI on X - which he created while working on Windows 95. As Microsoft's big update brought over many features of Windows NT, the Format tool had to be customized based on differences between the two operating systems.

"I wrote this Format dialog back on a rainy Thursday morning at Microsoft in late 1994," Dave writes. "I got out a piece of paper and wrote down all the options and choices you could make regarding formatting a disk, like a filesystem, label, cluster size, compression, encryption, and so on."

Continue reading: This Windows feature hasn't been updated for 30 years and it was only meant to be temporary (full post)

Windows 11 users reportedly find a mysterious Copilot app stealthily installed on their PC

Darren Allan | Mar 26, 2024 9:46 AM CDT

Windows 11 users should look out for a Copilot app which may have sneaked onto their system potentially, or so a German tech site reports.

Windows 11 users reportedly find a mysterious Copilot app stealthily installed on their PC

Anecdotally, other users have discovered this Copilot app flagged up by Deskmodder.de by checking the roster of apps installed on their PC - so you might want to hop on over to that yourself.

If the app is present you'll find it listed under Installed Apps, but it appears to be just an empty shell at this point.

Continue reading: Windows 11 users reportedly find a mysterious Copilot app stealthily installed on their PC (full post)

10 Best AI Image Upscalers for Ultra Clarity in 2024

Sponsored Content | Mar 24, 2024 9:45 PM CDT

In the visually-driven world of digital media, clarity isn't just a luxury; it's a necessity. With the rise of artificial intelligence, AI image upscaling has become a key trend, allowing us to turn low-resolution images into high-definition masterpieces.

10 Best AI Image Upscalers for Ultra Clarity in 2024

This technology is not just expanding the size of pictures; it's calculating and generating more meaningful pixels by massive training with existing high-resolution images. Social networks, online stores, and art platforms all benefit from the improved engagement that high-quality images provide.

In this article, we will explore the world of AI image upscalers and their main features in enhancing image resolution and clarity. By examining the features and pros and cons of each upscaler, we hope you can find the one that suits your needs best.

Continue reading: 10 Best AI Image Upscalers for Ultra Clarity in 2024 (full post)

Notepad in Windows 11 just became a bit more like Microsoft Word with a nifty new feature

Darren Allan | Mar 22, 2024 9:28 AM CDT

Microsoft is busy fleshing out a number of the higher-profile default apps in Windows 11, and Notepad is the latest application to get some attention with the addition of a very useful feature.

Notepad in Windows 11 just became a bit more like Microsoft Word with a nifty new feature

This is a spellcheck ability that's now rolling out in testing for the Canary and Dev channels, and you'll see it with Notepad version 11.2402.18.0.

As you might imagine, this will highlight spelling mistakes just as the spellcheck does in Word, and you can choose from a bunch of options for a correction. And just as with Word, you can elect to add any word to the dictionary if it has been flagged up, but isn't actually incorrect.

Continue reading: Notepad in Windows 11 just became a bit more like Microsoft Word with a nifty new feature (full post)

Winxvideo AI - Complete AI toolkit to convert, record, edit & enhance videos and images

Kosta Andreadis | Mar 18, 2024 4:01 PM CDT

Winxvideo AI is a powerful suite that includes AI tools for enhancing images and video quality, a versatile video converter and compressor, a screen recorder, a video editor, and even a downloader that can download media from various streaming sources. It does all of this while leveraging the power of graphics cards with full hardware acceleration for AMD, Intel, and NVIDIA GPUs.

Winxvideo AI - Complete AI toolkit to convert, record, edit & enhance videos and images

At the heart of Winxvideo AI is the AI video enhancer, which offers three AI tools to enhance video quality. The first is AI Upscaling, which can take a low-quality or low-resolution source and upscale it to 720p, 1080p, and even 4K. This is great for improving the quality of older videos, removing unwanted noise, and enhancing image fidelity.

The second is AI Frame Interpolation, similar to what DLSS 3 and Frame Generation bring to games; it increases the frame rate by a factor of 2X, 3X, 4X, or even 5X. With a one-click 'slow-motion' option, it is perfect for creating smooth videos similar to what you might see in a sports broadcast replay.

Continue reading: Winxvideo AI - Complete AI toolkit to convert, record, edit & enhance videos and images (full post)

WhatsApp could soon finally fix an irritating pinned chat limitation

Oliver Haslam | Mar 16, 2024 10:30 AM CDT

WhatsApp is already one of the world's most popular instant messaging apps and parent company Meta continues to make steady improvements to the list of features that the app has to offer across a wide range of platforms. Now we're hearing that one of the improvements still being developed is the ability to pin more than three different chats for the first time.

WhatsApp could soon finally fix an irritating pinned chat limitation

The news comes via the WhatsApp beta watchers over at WABetaInfo and sure enough, it's the latest Android beta version of the WhatsApp app that has given us our first look at the feature in action.

The feature is currently live in the WhatsApp 2.24.6.13 beta release that's available for download by beta testers via the Google Play Store and the ability to pin more than three chats is working currently. There's a screenshot showing the feature above and the screenshot does suggest that there is still a limit with five being the maximum number of chats that can be pinned in this version.

Continue reading: WhatsApp could soon finally fix an irritating pinned chat limitation (full post)

Popular OmniFocus Mac, iPhone, and iPad task manager app comes to Apple Vision Pro

Oliver Haslam | Mar 15, 2024 6:45 AM CDT

OmniFocus is a task management app that has been around for what feels like forever, and it quite possibly has actually been around that long. It's already available for the Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and the web - and now it's also available as a native visionOS app on the Apple Vision Pro for the first time.

Popular OmniFocus Mac, iPhone, and iPad task manager app comes to Apple Vision Pro

The update, which is available for download from the visionOS App Store as OmniFocus 41 right now, joins other OmniGroup app OmniPlan and is sure to not be the last Apple Vision Pro app from the long-time Apple platform developer.

In a blog post detailing the new update, OmniGroup says that this release includes all the same functionality that was introduced in OmniFocus 4.0 across the other platforms but with a decidedly spatial twist. As an example of that, bad counts now float over the Perspectives Bar in a three-dimensional space in a way that simply isn't possible on other platforms. The Inspector and commonly-used buttons are also in a new location outside the application window, something else that couldn't be done elsewhere.

Continue reading: Popular OmniFocus Mac, iPhone, and iPad task manager app comes to Apple Vision Pro (full post)

The EU's DMA rules are already helping drive iPhone web browser users to Brave, company says

Oliver Haslam | Mar 13, 2024 7:30 AM CDT

When Apple released the iOS 17.4 update earlier this month it made a few big changes to the way the iPhone is used in the European Union. One of those changes was to allow support for third-party app stores while allowing developers to offer their apps for installation via their own website is a feature that will come in due course. But one notable change was a new screen that appears the first time someone opens Safari and asks whether they would like to choose a different default browser.

The EU's DMA rules are already helping drive iPhone web browser users to Brave, company says

The list of browsers that are shown is generated at random, but the company that makes one of those browsers says that it has already noticed a huge spike in the number of downloads as a result of this change, suggesting that Apple's Safari did indeed have an outsized portion of the market as a result of being the default browser on iPhones.

While Apple has offered users the chance to change the default web browser for some time now, it's a feature that has perhaps not been that well-known among users. For that reason, it was argued that Apple should present the option to choose a new default the first time that Safari is launched after installing the iOS 17.4 update. Brave is one of the browsers listed as an option and in a post on the X social network the company shared a graph that shows the boost in downloads the app has seen since the update arrived.

Continue reading: The EU's DMA rules are already helping drive iPhone web browser users to Brave, company says (full post)

Spotify is rolling music video support out to Premium users in some markets

Oliver Haslam | Mar 13, 2024 7:15 AM CDT

If you're a Spotify Premium subscriber in one of a number of countries you will soon be able to watch music videos as you listen to your favorite songs. That's what Spotify has today confirmed in a press release that notes the feature is still in a beta form and that it will roll out to 11 countries starting today.

Spotify is rolling music video support out to Premium users in some markets

The list of countries that will see the new music video feature arrive starting today includes the U.K., Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Brazil, Colombia, Philippines, Indonesia, and Kenya. Spotify Premium subscribers in those markets can now watch music videos via the iPhone, Android, and desktop apps as well as their TV by selecting the "Switch to Video" toggle on supported songs.

It's important to remember that music videos are not currently available for all songs that can be listened to via Spotify, but the limited collection right now includes songs from global artists like Ed Sheeran, Doja Cat, and Ice Spice, or local favorites like Aluna and Asake. Spotify does say that it hopes to expand the catalog of music videos and bring the feature to more countries in the future, so hang fire if your country isn't listed or your favorite artist's videos aren't yet available.

Continue reading: Spotify is rolling music video support out to Premium users in some markets (full post)

Mac owners report strange USB-C hub issues after installing macOS Sonoma 14.4

Oliver Haslam | Mar 13, 2024 6:00 AM CDT

Apple released the macOS Sonoma 14.4 software update recently and while it doesn't bring any huge new features, it does seem to be causing some new problems for owners of USB hubs. Many people use hubs to allow them to connect multiple devices to computers like the MacBook Air thanks to its lack of ports, while plugging HDMI monitors in can require such a hub thanks to the lack of HDMI connectivity on some laptops. That means that such hubs can be vital and having them not work as they should can be hugely problematic.

Mac owners report strange USB-C hub issues after installing macOS Sonoma 14.4

A new MacRumors report says that people have started to complain on its forums and social media like X and Reddit, reporting that their hubs aren't always working as intended. They say that accessories and devices that are plugged into those hubs are sometimes not detected and that the issue only started after they installed the macOS Sonoma 14.4 update.

Monitors seem to be particularly problematic, the report notes, with people reporting that those who have monitors connected to Macs via hubs are no longer able to make them work. Mice and other input peripherals are similarly impacted.

Continue reading: Mac owners report strange USB-C hub issues after installing macOS Sonoma 14.4 (full post)