Apple has confirmed that it intends to hold a streamed, online-only event on May 7 and there have been plenty of rumors about what that event will involve. We've been hearing for months now that Apple intends to announce a slew of new iPads, and that seems most likely. But a new report suggests that there could be something of a tease for what comes next, too.

That report, coming out of The Washington Post, suggests that Apple CEO Tim Cook will offer a hint at new AI features that will be announced later this year. More specifically, they're expected to debut at WWDC on June 10, with the company thought to have some big changes in store for iPhone owners. Those changes look set to be AI-based, although it's still unclear exactly what those new features will be.

The report doesn't suggest that Cook will go into details, simply saying that he will hint at new artificial intelligence features. Apple's iOS 18 and macOS 15 software updates are thought to be the biggest of the bunch this year, both benefiting from Apple's new focus on AI technologies. The company is thought to be in talks with both OpenAI and Google about using their generative AI technologies, but Apple is thought to have its own in-house solution available for some features, too. With the software set to be announced in June, Apple isn't expected to make any of the new updates available to the public until the fall.

Following the implementation of the European Union's Digital Markets Act in March Apple was forced to make some changes to the way the iPhone worked, specifically relating to the App Store. The implications were only for the iPhone at the time, but following news that the EU has now added the iPad to its list of gatekeeper platforms Apple was left with a decision - either make similar changes to the iPad, or appeal the decision.

Apple has chosen to go the former route, and the company has now confirmed that it will be making the same changes that it made to the iPhone in March to the iPad, with the update coming this fall. That would suggest that we can expect iPadOS 18 or a version of that update to be the one that makes the big changes for iPad owners in the EU.

Those changes will mean that EU developers will have the option of distributing their apps outside of the App Store, whether that's via a third-party app marketplace or via their own websites. The iPad will also start to offer third-party web browsers to users while developers will also be able to choose to sign a new contract with Apple that will change the way payments are handled. Apple will not take the same commission from sales that happen outside of the App STore but will instead charge a Core Technology Fee - its way to get paid for the development of iPadOS and infrastructure.

Hot on the heels of reports that some people's iPhones are currently not correctly making sound when an alarm goes off, a new report suggests that another Apple device is also having problems with something as simple as the time of day. This time it's the HomePod and HomePod mini, with the Siri digital assistant reportedly having problems with a simple request that does nothing more than ask the time.

According to a MacRumors report asking Siri what time it is can lead to the assistant being unable to answer and instead it chooses to direct users to an iPhone. Such things often happen when something needs to be displayed on-screen, like a website, but Siri should of course be more than capable of telling what the current time is.

While this issue appears to be impacting the HomePod smart speakers, the MacRumors report notes that asking the same question of Siri on an iPhone, iPad, or Mac appears to work just fine and the digital assistant offers the time as requested. With that in mind, it's unclear what is confusing Siri on the HomePod and HomePod mini.

If you woke up this morning and wondered why it was so late, that's probably because your iPhone's alarm didn't go off. Or, to be more precise, it did but didn't make any sound. It's an issue that has started to pop up for more and more people around the globe over the last few days, and it could be happening to you.

The issue, which was first reported by NBC's Today Show, doesn't appear to have a known fix just yet - but the report does suggest that Apple is already aware of the issue and that it's working on fixing whatever it is that's gone awry.

People around the world use their iPhone as an alarm for all manner of things, whether that's to remember to do something or because they need to be woken after a good night's sleep. But there are issues at hand, and they could mean that you miss an appointment or get to work late, and that's far from ideal.

In a world where too many people continue to use a single username and password combination across multiple devices, services, and accounts, it's good to see that the passkey revolution continues to gather pace. We've already seen various companies and services offer passkeys as a new way of biometric-secured authentication with Apple, WhatsApp, and PlayStation among others all on side. But now one of the really big names has also thrown its hat into the ring.

In a post on its security blog, Microsoft has confirmed that it is now rolling out passkey support for Microsoft accounts, making it easier, quicker, and more secure to sign into those accounts. Creating a passkey is easy with users given the option to switch from their previous username and password via the sign-in process.

When it comes to signing into a Microsoft account using a passkey, the new sign-in option will be offered with support for signing in using a fingerprint, a face recognition solution like Face ID, a PIN, or a security key. Microsoft says that, starting today, users can sign into Microsoft apps and websites including Microsoft 365 and Copilot using both desktop and mobile web browsers.

For those who are NVIDIA GeForce Now subscribers, but haven't got the streaming service up and running on their Steam Deck yet, because it seems like too much hassle perhaps - here's some good news.

NVIDIA has gone ahead and made the process of getting GeForce Now working on Valve's handheld a good deal easier.

As detailed in the latest GeForce Now Thursday update, NVIDIA has released an installation script that takes care of everything.

It's hardly unusual for a Windows update to introduce a bug, but most of the time, Microsoft provides a solution in a reasonable timeframe - not always, mind, and not ever in this more recent case.

Yes, this is a bit of an odd one, and it concerns the unlucky Windows 10 users who, when installing an update back in January 2024, encountered a Windows Recovery Environment error.

That installation failure error (stop code: 0x80070643) is related to the recovery partition not being large enough for the mentioned January security update (KB5034441).

Bethesda Game Studios, the studio behind mainline entries in the Elder Scrolls and Fallout franchises, focuses primarily on one game at a time, switching between franchises. However, with the studio spending several years building its epic sci-fi RPG Starfield, it's been over a decade since we got The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and close to a decade since the launch of Fallout 4.

With the success of the Fallout TV show on Amazon Prime, Fallout 4 is currently one of the most played games on PC and consoles like the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. However, With Bethesda Game Studios shifting its focus toward The Elder Scrolls 6 before tackling Fallout 5, it could be a decade before we see a new Fallout game - and years before The Elder Scrolls 6 is done and ready to ship.

Speaking with Kinda Funny Games, Bethesda Game Studios head and Skyrim and Starfield game director Todd Howard is fully aware of the long gap between entries in these iconic and popular franchises - and is looking to rectify it.

Tactical FPS Gray Zone Warfare has launched into Early Access on Steam. Even though it currently has a 'Mixed' user review rating, the general sentiment is that the game is on track to live up to its potential as an open-world shooter focused on realism. The good news for GeForce RTX 40 Series owners is that performance is boosted thanks to DLSS 3 Frame Generation support.

DLSS 3 makes it 60+ FPS playable in 4K using the 'Epic' quality preset on everything from the GeForce RTX 4070 to the RTX 4090 using DLSS 'Performance' mode with Frame Gen enabled. For those wanting triple-digit GeForce RTX 4070 performance, dropping the resolution to 1440p sees 81 FPS turn into 111 FPS.

This week, third-person space combat action RPG Everspace 2 is also getting DLSS 3 support. The game just got a massive Incursions Update for all players, introducing new content and migrating it from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5.3.

NVIDIA's RTX Remix enables modders to reimagine an older PC title with full ray tracing or path tracing, updated models, and AI-enhanced textures while leveraging modern rendering technologies and tools like DLSS, Frame Generation, and Reflex.

NVIDIA first showcased what RTX Remix could do with the impressive Portal RTX mod, and with the RTX Remix Open Beta kicking off earlier this year, we'll see many great projects pop up in the months and years ahead. This week, NVIDIA has updated RTX Remix with the addition of NVIDIA DLSS 3.5 with Ray Reconstruction. We first saw the groundbreaking tech in Cyberpunk 2077's Phantom Liberty expansion last year.

DLSS 3.5 with Ray Reconstruction dramatically improves the quality of ray tracing, adding new detail to ray-traced effects like reflections and shadows. Thanks to NVIDIA's GitHub community input, this week's update also improves RTX Remix mod performance and compatibility. We also got an update on the stunning Half-Life 2 RTX: An RTX Remix Project.