Software & Apps - Page 38

Windows 11's next big update is set to arrive next week - yes, next week, rather out of the blue - and it'll be coming with Copilot, Microsoft's big AI gambit for the OS.

Microsoft made the announcement at its press event in New York today, spending a good deal of time chewing over exactly how Copilot will make a big difference to Windows 11 users.

As The Verge reports, Microsoft confirmed that September 26 is the date to mark for the launch of Windows 11 Moment 4 and the debut of Copilot.

The iPad is already arguably the best tablet on the planet but it would be even better if you could turn it into a monitor at will. And sure enough, now you can do just that thanks to a cool new app that won't cost you a thing.

That app is Orion, and it's been put together by the same people who created the popular Halide camera app on the iPhone. Once installed on an iPad running iPadOS 17 or later, and assuming that iPad has a USB-C port, you'll be able to plug just about anything into your tablet. and see what's going on.

The uses here are pretty obvious. You could plug a laptop into an iPad to get an external display, for example. Other ideas floated by the Orion team include a portable gaming monitor that would allow you to plug an Xbox, PlayStation, or Switch into it for on-the-go gaming. A more professional use? Photographers and videographers can plug their iPad into their cameras and get a live preview of what they're capturing, too.

Windows 11's Start menu remains one of the more controversial areas of the interface for the OS, and a fresh change in testing won't do anything to alter that perception.

Microsoft has applied some tweaks to the Recommended panel of the Start menu, one of which is potentially quite useful, and another, which, well, isn't.

The more positive change was spotted by regular leaker PhantomOfEarth on X (formerly Twitter), and is actually a hidden move you can see in the above tweet (only visible by using a Windows configuration utility, namely ViVeTool).

The Voice Memos app is one that comes preinstalled on all iPhones and Macs but is probably used by a relatively small proportion of the people who own those devices. But for those who do use it, the voice memos app can be vital. And now it's been given a huge new update that makes its recordings even more secure than they already were.

That's because Apple has enabled a new security feature in iOS 17, iPadOS 17, and macOS Sonoma. That feature will ensure that recordings stored in iCloud will have their titles automatically encrypted to keep them from prying eyes. In fact, Apple has shared a new support document that notes that devices that haven't been updated might only see the date and time that a note was created rather than any specific title that it was given.

Apple already encrypts the voice memos themselves meaning that even if someone was able to gain access to them, they wouldn't be able to hear what was on those recordings. They're encrypted in transit and then stored in an encrypted format, Apple's support document confirms.

It's something that's been in the works for a long time depending on who you listen to but it now sounds like WhatsApp is finally coming to the iPad. Not only that, but it's actually being tested ahead of what we have to imagine will be a global release in the semi-near future.

Using WhatsApp on the iPad has historically meant resorting to using the web app in Safari which, if we're all being honest with ourselves, sucks. The lack of an iPad app has long been a stain on WhatsApp's cross-platform credentials but it now seems that things are moving in the right direction following the news that the first iPad beta is now available to those who are on the WhatsApp TestFlight betas.

The news was first reported by the WhatsApp watchers over at WABetaInfo, with the new iPad app appearing as an option for those who are on the iOS beta.

Opera has produced new versions of its desktop and Android browsers which are customized to offer chess fans a whole bunch of extras.

The new browsers built in partnership with Chess.com allow you to play a game of chess right in the sidebar.

As well as the ability to play a game of chess online, you can tackle chess puzzles, and access a whole load of chess-related articles, videos, and streamed matches, allowing you to brush up on your skills in various ways.

Chief Product Officer for Windows and Devices at Microsoft, Panos Panay, just left the company in a rather surprising turn of events.

Panay announced his departure on X (formerly Twitter), noting that he is forever grateful for his time at Microsoft.

As you may be aware, he's been a stalwart at the company for a long time - almost two decades in fact - and an ever-present figure at a whole bunch of Windows and Surface launches throughout the years.

Valve has released the beta or Preview for SteamOS 3.5 for the Steam Deck, and it's a pretty big one regarding new features and improvements to the PC gaming handheld. A couple of the big features relate to connecting the Steam Deck to an external display with HDR and VRR (variable refresh rate) now enabled in Display Settings if connected to a supported display.

The Steam Deck's display is also getting an update with Valve confirming that the default rendering will now emulate the sRGB color gamut for a warmer, more vibrant image. Users can adjust the colors across new Color Vibrance and Color Temperature settings or revert to the current pre-update settings if they're not feeling the sRGB look.

SteamOS 3.5 also updates the graphics driver with "many performance and functionality improvements," specifically calling out Starfield as one title that will see improved performance.

Elon Musk has announced that X users will now be able to hide their Likes tab that is displayed on their profiles. Despite the launch of the new feature, Musk recommends accounts keep their Likes open.

Musk took to his X profile on September 15 to announce and highlight a new feature that was seemingly silently rolled out by the developers of the app that was formerly called Twitter. The new feature is the "Hide Likes tab", and gives users the option of removing the Likes tab from their profile, which can be viewed by the public. If the option is enabled, users will still be able to see the Likes tab on their profile, but other users, and X APIs, will not.

The option doesn't hide Likes from individual posts, as the feature states, "Your individual Likes will still be visible on posts". Musk announced the new feature but recommended that people still keep their Likes tab open for viewing, and steered those that use Likes as a way of bookmarking content to using the dedicated Bookmark option on posts for "interesting posts".

TikTok has just launched its own in-app shop that enables users to purchase and sell items directly through the app.

The massive app took to its newsroom to announce the rollout of TikTok Shop to its 150 million users across the United States. The company announced that it will be bringing "shoppable videos" and "livestreams" directly to user For You feeds, which will enable brands, merchants, and creators to sell items directly through the app, as well as consumers to purchase the new, trendy, #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt product.

Additionally, there will be a store where users can list items for sale and carry out purchases. It will be interesting to see how many of these shoppable videos will appear in TikTok's For You feed, as these videos are essentially an advertisement.

In a surprise move, Microsoft is adding a cool feature to its long-running image editing and creation tool, Paint. The app, formerly known as MS Paint, is getting a one-click ability to automatically remove the background of any image to leave "a smooth cutout of the subject."

Per Microsft's announcement, the background-removing Paint version is now available for Windows Insiders in the Canary and Dev Channels to test out. No word on when it might arrive as part of an official Windows or app update, but odds are it's on the cards for a wider release in the coming months.

Background removal is a super handy tool for those who work with images and image editors and has been a staple and popular part of apps like Photoshop for a while now. Paint, Microsoft's lofi and rudimentary image app that first debuted in 1985, has been a part of Windows for so long that it feels like a relic from a different time.

Microsoft has announced that its long-running WordPad app will no longer be updated, and it will be removed in a future release of Windows. WordPad, which first debuted almost three decades ago as a part of the (then) brand-new Windows 95, has been a Windows staple for so long it will be weird to see it go.

That said, it's an app that I personally haven't opened in a long, long time - with my main memories surrounding WordPad being that it was a great tool for opening MS Word .doc files without having to shell out for a copy of the (then) gold-standard word processor.

Although the demise of WordPad didn't get a formal standalone announcement, its retirement from future versions of Windows was added to Microsoft's list of 'deprecated features' for the OS, which also includes entries for Cortana in Windows and a bunch of other tools and features that are no longer being updated or have been superseded with other tools or apps.

NTDEV is the developer behind the popular Tiny10 and Tiny11 versions of Microsoft's latest Windows Operating Systems, which reduces the overall footprint of each OS in terms of their physical size in bits and bytes and removes tonnes of unneeded bloatware.

Recently, NTDEV released a version of Windows 11 called Live11 that squeezed the OS onto a 4GB USB drive (or DVD-ROM) that they also ran directly from the VRAM of a GeForce RTX 3050 without installation. So, it goes without saying that NTDEV knows the ins and outs of Windows and virtual machines at an awe-inspiring level - which brings us to the latest (and perhaps most fun) Windows experiment.

'Winception', or running a virtual nest of the last five versions of Windows on a single machine. That means Windows 7 is running a virtual version of Windows 8, which is then running a virtualized version of Windows 8.1, and so on.

Reading Kindle books on a Mac might not be something most people would fancy doing, but some people must actually be doing just that because Amazon is apparently working on a whole new app for it.

The current Kindle for Mac app is apparently not long for this world, with Amazon having confirmed via its release notes that it intends to rename it to Kindle Classic. And a new report by Good E-Reader claims that there's a very good reason for that.

The report claims that there is a new Kindle app on the way, but details are currently sparse on what that will entail. However, the suspicion is that the new app will be similar to the one that is currently available on Android and iOS, and that will be a welcome change. The current Kindle app is definitely due a refresh and it's hopeful that it's about to get it.

You're racing against time, trying to edit a crucial PDF document before that deadline. But wait, your editing tools are about as user-friendly as ancient signs and symbols. Frustration kicks in. Isn't there an easier way to handle this?

We've all been there, grappling with convoluted PDF editors that make even simple edits feel like rocket science. And let's not even talk about those "free" editors that are about as effective as a paper umbrella in a storm. You require a solution that effectively balances the space between intricacy and straightforwardness. A sturdy instrument that doesn't necessitate an advanced computer science degree.

That's where UPDF swoops in to save the day. It doesn't matter if you use Windows, Mac, iPhone, or an iPad enthusiast. UPDF is the ultimate PDF editor that has your back. Let's unveil why UPDF is the ultimate solution to transform how you work with PDFs. Now you can save 63% off on UPDF with AI add-on and get a chance to win free order.

X, the social network formerly known as Twitter, is going to get voice and video call support in the future. That's according to a post by current owner and former CEO Elon Musk, although the company is yet to formally announce the plans.

The post on X says that video and audio calls are coming to the platform, adding that they will work on multiple platforms including iPhones, Android devices, the Mac, and the PC. There's no suggestion that the website will get support for the feature, and the Mac app hasn't been updated in a long, long time. It's still branded as Twitter, for starters.

Musk's post continues, saying that those wanting to use the new calling features won't need to use a phone number to make it work while the move will apparently turn X into the world's address book. The suggestion appears to be that everyone will be able to call everyone else, something that will be of concern to those who are already worried about Musk's claims that the block feature is going to go away. That would potentially leave people with no way to prevent unwanted calls unless the mute feature picks up the slack of course.

Even fans of the popular instant messaging service WhatsApp would likely agree that the interface is looking a little long in the tooth and is ready for some love at this point. And it seems that someone inside the Meta-owned outfit would agree because the latest iPhone TestFlight beta seems to include proof that a new look is on the way.

While neither Meta nor WhatsApp have confirmed that changes are afoot, the beta watchers at WABetaInfo have shared a screenshot of the latest beta, complete with a refreshed look that includes new iconography, colors, and more.

According to WABetaInfo this new update includes green as the primary color with some elements using a blue, including filtering options. Those filters will allow people to see different types of chats while avoiding others - the WABetaInfo report says that personal chats can be filtered from business ones and vice-versa. New buttons can also be seen in the navigation bar with the overall look and feel of the app being a more modern one.

Keeping all of your photos and videos safe in Google Photos just got a lot easier, particularly if you're using an iPhone or the web. That's after Google announced a new update that brings the Locked Folder feature to both platforms for the first time.

Locked Folder has been around on Android for years now, but this is the first time that those who manage their media via the web or their iPhone have been able to take advantage of it. It's also the first time that those who use multiple devices have been able to access their Locked Folder media on those devices - they simply weren't accessible on an iPhone or via a web browser if added to a locked folder via Android.

Google says that Locked Folder will offer a passcode-protected space for saving sensitive photos and videos that then won't show up in the photo grid or in other apps. That can be useful for compromising photos, obviously, but is also of benefit from private information like photos of driver's licenses and other identity cards.

Windows 11 and 10 users who run with the combo of the Chrome browser and Google search have likely been irritated by a Bing popup in recent times - we know we have.

Windows Latest reports that this appears to be a fresh campaign to get those who are using Chrome, with Google set as their default search engine, to switch the latter preference to Bing.

As noted at the outset, we fall into this category, and we have seen this popup invade our PC twice last week.

A future update to the Google Maps app could finally bring support for iOS 16 Live Activities to the iPhone. The feature was first added to iPhones when iOS 16.1 shipped almost a year ago but a new report claims that Google is finally getting ready to add support in a future Maps update.

Live Activities remove the need for repeat notifications for things like next turns and whatnot, placing a persistent tile on the iPhone's Lock Screen. With iPhones that have Dynamic Islands, like the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max, Live Activities can also be displayed when the iPhone is in use. The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus are expected to be the first non-Pro iPhones to have a Dynamic Island which might explain Google's decision to add support soon.

While Google is yet to announce anything official, MacRumors reports that developer Steve Moser has spotted hidden code-level references to Live Activities in the latest Google Maps update. Those references don't do anything yet, but it's likely that they will be activated to enable Live Activities support as part of a future app update.