Software & Apps News - Page 1

Windows 11 has some interesting new features incoming based on the latest preview version of the operating system.

As well-known leaker on X (formerly Twitter) Albacore noticed, in the fresh preview build 26212 (deployed in the Canary channel), Microsoft has introduced what are called 'companions' for the Start menu.

These are widget-style concoctions that are attached to the Start menu in a floating panel that can be docked to the left or right-hand side, piping through info in real-time to the UI in a kind of 'Live Tiles' style. (Which of course was a piece of functionality Microsoft previously did away with - these were introduced with Windows 8, but Windows 11 dropped them).

WhatsApp, the Meta-owned instant messaging platform that works on just about everything with a display and an internet connection, has announced some changes to its iPhone and Android apps. The updates aren't new features as such, but more tweaks to the existing interfaces that people use daily. Changes include an upgraded color palette, an improved default chat background, and more.

WhatsApp made the changes known via a lengthy post to the Facebook blog in which Idit Yaniv, VP, Head of WhatsApp Design, detailed the changes that are being made. All of these changes are rolling out to users now, although they require a server-side flick of a switch. Make sure that you have the latest version of WhatsApp installed on your iPhone or Android phone and hang tight if you don't see them just yet.

Meta explained that there are a number of different changes that have been made including the use of a new color palette that will allow the company to make better decisions about the way the app uses color as a whole. As part of that, the post also announced that Android users can expect a new, darker dark model. WhatsApp says that people had requested that the dark mode be less bright, so it's now one shade darker.

Windows 11 users running an inactivated copy of the operating system may find that in the future, there's a further penalty exacted on them for failing to activate - and it involves Microsoft's Edge browser.

Windows Latest noticed that in a fresh test build of Edge, there are several flags that hint at the potentially incoming move. These are:

Just by looking at those flags you can guess the functionality being leveraged: a check for activation, then a trigger if Windows 11 isn't activated that means Edge Settings are locked.

The Senate officially banned TikTok in the United States, giving the popular app owner the choice of selling it to a US government-approved buyer or having it banned from app marketplaces.

The US government has deemed TikTok a national security risk due to its owner being China-based company ByteDance, which officials believe have ties to the Chinese government. More specifically, the US government believes TikTok is capable of scraping the personal data of 170 million Americans, and that data could then be shared with the Chinese government. Furthermore, the US government believe TikTok could be used to spread misinformation throughout the US.

The banning of the app gave its owner 270 days to sell TikTok, with an additional 90-day presidential extension. TikTok and ByteDance have since responded to the new legislature by filing a lawsuit that directly challenges the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which President Biden signed into law last month.

Windows 10 users wanting to upgrade to Windows 11 will soon be put on the latest version of Microsoft's newer operating system.

What, you might be thinking: Didn't this happen already? No, actually, because some of those upgrading from Windows 10 found themselves migrated to Windows 11 22H2, rather than the 23H2 flavor of the OS.

Windows Latest reports that they have observed on several Windows 10 PCs that Microsoft was offering the upgrade to Windows 11, but that it would install the 22H2 version.

Apple's Let Loose event was billed as the one where Apple would announce a new iPad Pro and a refreshed iPad Air and it definitely didn't disappoint on that front. But the company also took the time to announce a couple of new software updates for its creative apps, including the popular Final Cut Pro app for the iPad and Mac.

The new Final Cut Pro for iPad 2 is a big update and coincides with the release of the new iPad Pro, and Apple says that it transforms the tablet into a multicam production studio with Live Multicam, a feature giving users the ability to connect and preview up to four cameras at the same time.

Apple also announced new AI features coming to Final Cut Pro for Mac 10.78, giving users the ability to rapidly edit the look of videos and photos with a single click, among other things. There are new workflow-accelerating tools that are designed to bring new ways to manage color correction and more, too.

Apple's Let Loose iPad event might have been all about the new M4 iPad Pro and the iPad Air getting an M2 chip, but the company also took time out to show people what people can do with those new tablets. It announced updated versions of its creativity apps, including the popular Logic Pro music-making and podcasting app.

The update, which is available for both the iPad and Mac, brings with it a couple of notable upgrades including Session Players. Apple says that they offer new experiences for creators by giving them a personal, AI-driven backing band that responds directly to any feedback that is given. The app update also includes Stem Splitter, allowing artists to recover moments of inspiration for any audio file and then separate almost any mixed audio recording into four distinct parts; drums, bass, vocals, and other instruments. One the tracks have been separated musicians can then apply effects, ad new parts, and more. And it's all powered by AI on M-series Apple silicon devices.

There's a lot more going on in this update and you can read about it in the press release linked before. The update is available for free to existing owners and will be available for download from May 13.

The discrepancy between Windows 10 users and Windows 11 users is seemingly growing and not in the direction that Microsoft wants.

According to new data from Statcounter, a renowned web analytics service that has tracking code on more than 1.5 million websites, market share figures between Windows 11 users and Windows 10 users is trending - at least in the short term - toward more Windows 10 adoption, as global desktop share between February 2024 and April 2024 dropped from 28.16% to 25.65%. On the other hand, Windows 10's market share grew from 67.26% to 70.03%.

These numbers, while not being anywhere near as accurate as what Microsoft has internally, are a good indicator for market share, and if they are close to being accurate, it means Windows 10 users aren't being convinced to upgrade to Windows 11, something that Microsoft has been pushing for a few years now, and particularly so since the company announced Windows 10 support would end on October 14, 2025.

Microsoft has revealed its discovered a serious security vulnerability that impacts countless Android applications, leading the possibility of valuable user data being stolen.

Microsoft has dubbed the security vulnerability "Dirty Stream" and explains the flaw can be traced back to a critical system that is responsible for the secure data exchange between different applications on a device. This system is also responsible for conducting handshake authorizations through safeguards such as the isolation of sensitive data, hiding any permissions that are attached to specific Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs), and preventing any unauthorized access through validating file pathways.

Unfortunately, Microsoft has discovered a critical exploitation within the system, exposed by the incorrect use of "custom intents" which is a messaging system that Android apps use to communicate with different aspects of the app - essentially the messaging system used for all of the app components to talk to each other. The exploitation led to researchers discovering the sensitive areas of an app and a possible route for an attacker to seize total control of an app and harvest sensitive user data.

Windows 11 and Windows 10 users are again under fire from a Microsoft pop-up which is rather intrusive, flashing up on the desktop to advertise Bing AI for those using Google's Chrome browser.

Windows Latest notes it initially spotted the pop-up, which urges Chrome users to use ChatGPT-4 powered Bing - and to set Bing as their default search, and install its extension - back in March, but it's now appearing again.

Multiple readers have been getting in touch lately complaining that they've been hit by this dialog box, which stays present until you dismiss it - you have to answer either yes or no to the suggested Bing-related modifications to Chrome.