https://www.neowin.net/forum/rss/1-neowin.xml/Forum threadsenSystem76 unveils the Galago Pro ultraportable laptop starting at $999 by Paul Hill System76, an OEM that’s focused on open-source computing, has announced the availability of the refreshed Galago Pro ultraportable laptop. The Galago Pro includes the latest 13th Gen Intel H-class CPUs, integrated Intel graphics, and a 144Hz screen. The company is pitching the Galago Pro to developers, students, and professionals who need a powerful computer but are always on the move. System76 believes this laptop will be a “top contender” in the ultraportable laptop market and the price reflects that, starting at $999. “The Galago Pro moving to H class CPU is a pretty big move,” said Benjamin Shpurker, Product Manager. “H class without NVIDIA has been desired for quite a while! So we're thrilled to be able to offer this.” The full specifications of the Galago Pro are as follows: Operating System Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS or Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Firmware System76 Open Firmware (coreboot, EDK2, System76 Firmware Apps) System76 Open Source Embedded Controller Firmware Processor 13th Gen Intel® Core i5-13500H: Up to 4.7 GHz - 18MB Cache - 4 P-Cores - 8 E-Cores 13th Gen Intel® Core i7-13700H: Up to 5.0 GHz - 24MB Cache - 6 P-Cores - 8 E-Cores Display 14.1″ 1920×1080 FHD, Matte Finish, 144Hz Graphics Intel® Iris Xe Graphics Memory Up to 64GB dual-channel DDR4 @ 3200MHz Storage 1 × M.2 PCIe Gen4 NVMe. Up to 4TB total. Expansion 1 × Thunderbolt™ 4, 1 × USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C, 2 × USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, SD Card Reader Input Multitouch Clickpad, Backlit Chiclet US QWERTY Keyboard Networking Gigabit Ethernet, WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3 Video Ports HDMI, Thunderbolt 4 Audio Stereo Speakers, 1× Headphone/Microphone Combo Camera 720p HD Webcam Security Kensington® Lock Battery Li-Ion - 53 Wh Charger 90 Watts, AC-in 100~240V, 50~60Hz, DC-out 19V, 4.74A 90W+ USB Type-C Charging Compatible Dimensions 12.79″ × 8.86″ × 0.72″ (32.49 × 22.50 × 1.82cm) Weight 3.2 lbs (1.45kg) Base weight. Varies on configuration. Model galp7 Some other interesting aspects of the Galago Pro are its glare-resistant display and the inclusion of customizable keyboard LEDs via the System76 Keyboard Configurator app. The company also said it will help you extend the life of your new Galago Pro by providing repair guides, replacement parts, lifetime support, and firmware updates. To design and buy a Galago Pro from System76, just head over to the company’s website and press Design + Buy.Fri, 02 Jun 2023 06:48:02 +0000Vimeo to shut down all of its TV streaming apps later this month by Aditya Tiwari The video hosting service Vimeo announced that its TV apps will be discontinued later this month on June 27. Vimeo said it will shut down its streaming apps across all supported platforms, including Android TV, Apple TV, Roku, and Amazon Fire TV. These apps will be removed from the respective app stores and Vimeo will no longer push any security updates or provide technical support for its TV apps. According to a support document spotted by Engadget, the latest change doesn't apply to "branded apps available to Vimeo OTT enterprise sellers." Vimeo is displaying on-screen notifications on users' TV screens informing them about the upcoming shutdown. Vimeo's streaming apps for TV were launched back in 2016, around the time when the company positioned itself as a rival to YouTube. But over the years, Vimeo transformed itself into a business-focused streaming platform. "Today, Vimeo is much more than a viewing destination. It's an all-in-one video experience platform giving creative professionals, businesses, and organizations everything they need to make and market amazing, impactful videos," Vimeo said explaining why it's pulling the plug on its TV apps. Nevertheless, the shutdown of the Vimeo TV apps isn't the end of the road. Users can still cast their Vimeo content on the big screen with the help of its Android and iPhone apps. Vimeo said it retires legacy products that are no longer in line with its standards, adding that casting via its mobile apps can provide a "better ongoing experience" to the viewers. To cast their favorite videos on compatible TVs, users can simply look for the Chromecast or AirPlay icon in the Vimeo apps for Android and iOS. As of now, Vimeo doesn't support casting videos from a Chrome web browser but users can AirPlay Vimeo content from the Safari browser on Apple devices. Via EngadgetFri, 02 Jun 2023 05:38:02 +0000Google Bard now requests your actual location for better answers by Paul Hill Google has pushed out another update for its generative AI chatbot, Bard. This time, it has added the ability for users to allow access to their location so that Bard can use this and provide more relevant results. One popular Google Search query is “What time does X close?”, you’ll typically see the searched-for business in your Search results with a list of closing times. You can now do this in Bard with the location update and it will give you the closing times of the local stores you asked about. Google didn’t really expand too much on what else the precise location would enable you to do, but Bard itself says you can get location-specific information on places like coffee shops and restaurants, get directions from your current location, find events that are happening near you, and get local weather information. Having tested the weather forecast, Neowin can report that it works well but there is a small grievance. In the UK, where a hodgepodge of imperial and metric measurements are used, the main unit for measuring the temperature in Celsius. Despite knowing that the query was coming from the UK, Bard still decided to put out its response in Fahrenheit, a quick clarification swiftly resolves this though. To see which location Google Bard has for you, just look in the bottom-left corner and you should see a blue dot if you’ve given permission for it to use your location, followed by your town or city. You can also press update location if it’s now out of date due to travelling. OpenAI took an early lead in the generative AI race but while it still gets updates, its knowledge is still stuck in 2021 and it cannot do as much now as Bard, such as accessing your location or grabbing relevant pictures from the web and inserting them into your query results (at least on the free tier). We are still early on with regards to the maturity of these generative AI projects so we should see a lot more new features arriving over time. It’s so early that Google still refers to Bard as an experiment.Fri, 02 Jun 2023 05:00:03 +0000Apple to send the original 12-inch MacBook into retirement on June 30 by Aditya Tiwari Apple is expected to expand its list of obsolete products with the addition of the original 12-inch MacBook. That's according to an internal memo seen by MacRumors and Apple is expected to pull the plug on the discontinued MacBook on June 30. The 12-inch MacBook was announced back in March 2015 with a starting price of $1,299. It was discontinued in April 2016 when Apple released the next generation of the laptop. The MacBook was powered by an Intel Core M dual-core processor coupled with 8GB LPDDR3 RAM and up to 512GB of storage onboard. The 12-inch MacBook was in the news for having just two ports on the entire machine: a 3.5mm audio jack, and a multi-functional USB-C port with support for USB 3.1 Gen 1, HDMI, VGA, and DisplayPort 1.2. However, this also meant users had to purchase a separate USB-C adapter for added connectivity options. It is the first laptop from Apple to feature the USB-C port and also the first MacBook to ship without MagSafe charging at the time. It was later in 2021 when Apple's M-series MacBook Pro laptops were released with a MagSafe 3 charging connector. The 2015 MacBook was among the lightest laptops on the market weighing just 2.03 pounds. With its 39.7 Wh battery, the device offered up to 30 days of standby time and around 9 hours of web browsing. Apple marks a product obsolete seven years after discontinuing its sales on the market. Service providers can't order repair parts for such devices and they are no longer eligible for hardware repairs at Apple Stores and Apple-authorized service centers. Apple also added the original iPad Air to its list of obsolete products last month. The 12-inch MacBook was refreshed twice, first in April 2016 and then again in June 2017, it was discontinued in 2019. Therefore, its last generation which is yet to be marked vintage is still eligible for service and hardware repairs. Source: MacRumorsFri, 02 Jun 2023 04:20:03 +0000NASA calls on the public to send their names on its Europa Clipper mission by Paul Hill Every now and again, NASA gets ready to launch a major mission into space and sometimes offers the public a chance to get their name sent into space. The organization has opened up another opportunity such as this. You now have the opportunity to send your name on NASA's upcoming Europa Clipper mission, which is set to land on Jupiter's second Galilean moon, Europa, in 2030. People’s names will accompany a poem called “In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa” by US Poet Laureate Ada Limón. They will be stencilled onto a microchip and head off on the journey in October 2024. If you’re interested in including your name, you must add it to NASA’s website by December 31. Since the programme was announced on the evening of June 1, 2,767 people have added their names. The majority of these submissions are from the United States but names from all the continents have started coming in too. Within the United States, most signatures have come from California, Texas, Florida, and New York. "'Message in a Bottle' is the perfect convergence of science, art, and technology, and we are excited to share with the world the opportunity to be a part of Europa Clipper's journey," said Nicola Fox, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. "I just love the thought that our names will be travelling across our solar system aboard the radiation-tolerant spacecraft that seeks to unlock the secrets of Jupiter's frozen moon." As mentioned, NASA has held similar programmes for its Artemis I mission to the moon and for several missions to Mars. While anyone is free to add their name, NASA will definitely be hoping that it piques the interest of children who may be more interested to pursue a job in the sciences as a result. In addition to adding your name, the website provides a world map that displays the locations where signatures are being added from. You can also find a live feed of the Clipper clean room to see work going on.Fri, 02 Jun 2023 03:44:03 +0000Microsoft has signed deal with CoreWeave for AI computing power, say sources by Paul Hill Microsoft has signed a deal with CoreWeave, a provider of AI computing power, that could be worth billions of dollars over a number of years. The news was disclosed by sources familiar with the matter, to CNBC. While Microsoft and CoreWeave have failed to confirm the information, the sources told CNBC that the deal was made to ensure that OpenAI’s ChatGPT had enough computing power going forward. Through a partnership with Microsoft, OpenAI currently uses Microsoft Azure infrastructure to run ChatGPT, which is resource intensive. It seems that the agreement was made earlier this year. In recent weeks, we’ve seen the price of NVIDIA’s shares rocket up as investors anticipate higher earnings for the company on the back of generative AI services like ChatGPT. CoreWeave offers cloud computing services also powered by NVIDIA hardware. The revelation about this deal comes just one day after CoreWeave announced that it had secured $200 million in a Series B funding extension, bringing the round’s total to $421 million. The $200 million was invested by Magnetar Capital. According to CoreWeave, the funding is helping it fill a gap in the market that legacy cloud computing providers are struggling to fill. “By combining easy access to high-powered GPUs for training AI models with fast and flexible infrastructure and by focusing on a specific type of compute, CoreWeave continues to differentiate itself from other companies in the space,” said Ernie Rogers, Magnetar’s chief operating officer. “Magnetar believes CoreWeave sits in a sweet spot for enabling world-class results across a number of industries. We are proud to have been the lead investor for CoreWeave’s Series B funding round and its extension.” Now that knowledge of this agreement is public, it could add even more fuel to NVIDIA’s stock price as it suggests the company could see even more demand for its products as CoreWeave seeks to provide resources for Microsoft and OpenAI. Source: CNBCFri, 02 Jun 2023 02:58:03 +0000Samsung 970 EVO Plus, 990 PRO 2TB SSDs further drop in prices, reach all-time low on Amazon by Fiza Ali Currently, on Amazon, the 2TB Samsung 970 EVO Plus SSD is selling for only $112 while the 2TB 990 PRO is available at only $169. The prices for these SSDs have dropped to their all-time low on Amazon and Newegg today so, get these for yourselves while you can. The 970 EVO Plus is powered by V-NAND technology and firmware optimization, offering enhanced NAND performance and greater power efficiency. It is capable of reaching sequential read speeds of up to 3500 MB/s, and sequential write speeds of up to 3300 MB/s. It can be an ideal tool to help expand storage capacity and save space for other components, with the ability to fit up to 2TB onto the compact M.2 (2280) form factor. For improved heat dissipation, the 970 EVO Plus features Samsung's advanced nickel-coated controller and heat spreader. For the minimization of performance drops, the Dynamic Thermal Guard automatically monitors and maintains optimal operating temperatures. With the Samsung Magician software, you get a range of tools to aid in keeping your drive up to date, monitor drive health and speed, and enhance overall performance. The Samsung 970 EVO Plus variation, being 53% faster than the Samsung 970 EVO, delivers high performance for intensive workloads on PCs and workstations. 2TB Samsung 970 EVO Plus SSD (NVMe M.2 Internal Solid State Hard Drive, V-NAND Technology, Storage and Memory Expansion for Gaming, Graphics w/ Heat Control, Max Speed): $112.09 (Amazon US) - $114.99 (Newegg US) 2TB Samsung 990 PRO SSD (PCIe 4.0 M.2 Internal Solid State Drive, Fastest Speed for Gaming, Heat Control, Direct Storage and Memory Expansion for Video Editing, Heavy Graphics): $169.99 (Amazon US) - $169.99 (Newegg US) Alternatively, you can check out other SSD deals from Samsung T7, Crucial, WD_BLACK, and SanDisk. For hard disk drives, you can head over to our HDD deals section to see if anything from there matches your requirements. If this is not what you want, you can also browse through Amazon US, Newegg US, or Amazon UK, or visit our Deals section to see if you find other great deals. As an Amazon and Newegg Associate, when you purchase through links on our site, we earn from qualifying purchases. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Thu, 01 Jun 2023 22:20:03 +0000Thu, 01 Jun 2023 21:32:02 +0000Reading Practice arrives on Google Play Books to help improve literacy skills by Paul Hill Google has announced that users of Google Play Books in the United States can now use a new feature called Reading Practice. The company said it is designed for new readers to get on independently and learn new vocabulary and comprehension skills through thousands of children’s stories. To use Reading Practice, you must be in the US and on the Google Play Books Android app in the Google Kids Space. If you want to know whether a book supports Reading Practice, look on the book’s store page for the Practice badge which is like a microphone. According to the search giant, you can browse thousands of English-language children's books to get started, most of these support Reading Practice. It said some books in the children’s section are also free of charge, this is great if you’re currently looking to save a bit of money. The key features of Reading Practice were outlined by Google as follows: Track their reading position: They’ll see the text highlighted as they read out loud, tracking where they are in the book and helping them focus on the next word. Hear a word: If they’re stuck on how to pronounce a word, they can simply tap it to hear what it sounds like. Sound it out: With a quick tap, they’ll also hear a word broken down by syllable. Hear a sentence: For even more context, new readers can listen to an entire sentence. Define a word: To learn more, they can tap to see or hear a child-friendly definition of a word. Set a new reading position: They can tap any word to update their position in the book and start tracking from there. Practice a challenging word: At the end of the page, they’ll have the option to practice any words they skipped or mispronounced. If you need more help using Reading Practice, you can check out the dedicated Google Play Help page.Thu, 01 Jun 2023 21:22:01 +0000Meta Quest Gaming Showcase showed off VR versions of Bulletstorm, 7th Guest and more by John Callaham Just a few hours after Meta surprised many people by officially revealing its Meta Quest 3 VR headset, the company held its annual online Quest Gaming Showcase. Over 20 upcoming VR games were either revealed or got new updates as part of the event. The Meta Quest blog has a solid recap of all the VR games that were shown off during the Games Showcase. However, not all of them will be exclusive to Meta's headsets. Indeed, many of the games will also be coming to Sony's PS VR2 and even Valve's SteamVR platform. One of those games will be Bulletstorm VR, an adaptation of the great 2011 sci-i first-person shooter from developer People Can Fly. Here's what you can expect: Utilize everything from your Flailgun to Bulletstorm’s iconic energy leash to perform creative acts of carnage on your enemies. Effortlessly switch between melee and ranged combat to perform an array of unique Skillshots on your adversaries to earn additional experience and boost your abilities. These range from kicking an enemy into a cactus, to impaling them on rebar, to shooting them in the groin. In Bulletstorm VR everything is a weapon, and you’re encouraged to get as creative as possible when racking up your kill count! Another VR game adaptation that's coming this year is The 7th Guest, the classic 1990s adventure game. This new version is being developed by Vertigo Games. Here's what you can expect: The team is using volumetric video capture to recreate the FMV (full-motion video) storytelling of the original game, bringing the classic adventure to life like never before. And for the first time ever, the iconic mansion is being recreated in full 3D—though don’t be surprised if it starts shifting around you. After all, it’s haunted. Both games are due out later this year. Some of the other highlights of the Meta Quest Gaming Showcase include: Asgard’s Wrath 2 - This is a sequel to Meta's in-house developed VR title, The new game will continue its theme of players battling mythical creatures and even god in this fantasy RPG. Ghostbusters: Rise of the Ghost Lord - Announced at last year's Quest Gaming Showcase, we got to see a new story trailer for this multiplayer co-op game based on the movie franchise. PowerWash Simulator VR - Yes, this cult hit game where you wash down things is perfect for a VR game, and later this year we will get our wish. Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR - This was the only game that was announced during the showcase but that we didn't see any footage. Ubisoft's hit franchise is coming to VR with more info to be revealed at the Ubisoft Forward streaming event on June 12. As we reported earlier, Meta revealed the Quest 3 headset, which will have a lot of improvements over the current Quest 2. It's due later this fall with a starting price of $499.99.Thu, 01 Jun 2023 21:10:02 +0000Thu, 01 Jun 2023 19:46:02 +0000Microsoft PowerToys 0.70.1 fixes Peek network shares, Mouse Without Borders bugs, and more by Steven Parker Microsoft has released a patch update for PowerToys 0.70, which was released just over a week ago along with a couple of new PowerToys. However, some bugs were discovered in that release and therefore a patch was deemed important enough to release an update. it contains all of the features present in the previous release as well as a number of bug fixes that are listed below. This is a patch release to fix issues in v70.0 to fix some bugs we deemed important for stability based on incoming rates. See v0.70.0 for full release notes. Microsoft also added a warning about Mouse Without Borders potentially disabling service mode after upgrading to 0.70.1, the note is as follows: Warning: Service mode in Mouse Without Borders might be disabled after upgrading and will need to be activated again. Changelog: #26142, #26439 and #26525 - UX improvements in the Peek and Mouse Without Borders settings pages. #26152 - The new PowerToys Run plugin for opening other PowerToys was missing some files in the installer and should work properly now. #26235 - Peek and Mouse Without Borders process crashes in event viewer should now be reported correctly on Bug Reports. #26150 - The Peek shortcut is now only captured if the active window is the Desktop, Explorer or Peek. #26192 - Users can now use the Settings to specify host name and IP correlation in Mouse Without Borders, to account for VPN scenarios. #24047 - Fixed a cause for possible leaks and/or infinite cycles in C# utilities that use events. #26137 - The Peek windows can be closed using the Escape key. #26181 - Created a setting for Peek to always run not elevated, so that it handles files in network shares correctly. #26318, #26373 and #26431 - Peek and dev file preview now support showing Visual Studio project common files and .ini compatible files. #26419 - Fixed a blinking issue when loading code files in Peek. #26160 - Fixed a playback notification that would stick when using Peek on video files. #26243 - Peek now tries to appear on the same monitor as the File Explorer window that triggers it. #26133 - Fixed small Peek UI on high DPIs. #26361, #26162 and #26478 - Reduced Peek memory usage and possible leaks. #26246 - Fixed Mouse Without Borders layout always resetting to one row after some time. #26366 - Added a setting to close the Peek window after it loses focus. #26338 - Fixed the mouse activating thumbnails on top of the screen when switching to another machine in Mouse Without Borders. #26470 - Fixed a silent Peek crash when trying to open it from File Explorer with no files selected. #26261 - Fixed an issue causing Mouse Without Borders to prevent other connected machines from going to sleep. #26454 - Disabled a deprecated shortcut in Mouse Without Borders that was interfering with other software. #26517 - Don't remove the Mouse Without Borders service on upgrade. This issue will still affect users upgrading from 0.70.0 to a newer version, but it's fixed going forward. #26521 - When Mouse Without Borders detects the service doesn't exist, it will still try to operate in the "no service" mode. #26524 - Fixed a bug causing Mouse Without Borders to click a window on the current machine when switching to another machine. #26259 - Added a winget-cli configuration file for PowerToys. You can download PowerToys 0.70.1 from the Microsoft Store using this link, winget (Command Prompt as Administrator and enter the command: winget install --id Microsoft.PowerToys, or the official repository on GitHub. If you already have PowerToys installed on your computer, the app will notify you about available updates, or you can manually update from the settings. As noted above, you can also learn about changes in the previous 0.70 release.Thu, 01 Jun 2023 19:34:02 +0000Microsoft 365 Insider Mac users get new search features for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint by John Callaham The Microsoft 365 Insider program has some updates today for Mac PC owners. The Mac apps for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint have some improvements in their search features. Microsoft's blog post describes the new features. The biggest one is the ability to turn on smart search suggestions. This will allow Mac users of these apps to get suggestions for their next words before they type them. Mac users can open any document in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint, and then click on the Search box in the top right corner. They can then select search suggestions to enable this feature. In addition, the Mac apps can now be used to search for things other than text such as commands, help articles, or web results. If you want to search for a specific command, all you have to do is just type in in the corner Search box. Web search results include things like definitions, media, and Bing results. If you want to search for these items in a document just click on the Open Search pane. You can also right-click anywhere on the document and then you can click on the Open Search pane in the shortcut menu. If you want to use keyboard shortcuts to use the search features you can do that as well: Open Search dropdown - Cmd + Ctrl + U Find in document - Cmd + F Open Search pane - Cmd + Ctrl + L Finally, Microsoft has made the Smart Lookup pane more accessible to people who are blind or have low vision. That includes improved VoiceOver support and keyboard navigation. There is one known issue, with Microsoft stating that the Search drop-down menu does not close when the ribbon tabs are clicked. This is available now for all Mac Microsoft Office 2021 owners, and people on the Microsoft 365 Insider beta channel running on version 16.74 (Build 23043001) or later.Thu, 01 Jun 2023 19:22:02 +0000Thu, 01 Jun 2023 18:20:02 +0000The Windows 11 Paint app gets dark mode and more in a new Dev and Canary Insider update by John Callaham Many Windows 11 users have been waiting patiently for the company's Paint app to add a dark mode. Some people were not so patient. Mod developers have been putting in a dark mode feature in Paint via third-party apps for a while now. Today, the long wait is over, at least if you are a member of the Windows Insider program. Microsoft revealed today that Insiders in the Dev and Canary channels can download the new version (11.2304.17.0) of the Paint app. Yes, it does finally include a dark mode. Microsoft stated: With this update, we are introducing support for dark mode in Paint. By default, Paint will adapt to your system theme preferences, but you can change this option yourself on the brand-new settings page. In addition to the new dark mode, the new Paint app for Dev and Canary Insiders includes some new features and improvements for its zoom mode: The classic presets are still available, but you can now also zoom in and out with finer granularity increments on the zoom slider or set a custom zoom value for even greater precision. We are also introducing a new fit to screen option to quickly optimize zoom to match your window size. Microsoft has also made changes to the Paint App's Image Properties dialogs: They now match the style of the new Windows 11 design and fit in with the new Paint app backdrop as well as many accessibility and usability improvements to dialogs throughout the app. We have also improved access key and keyboard shortcut support throughout the app for improved accessibility and productivity with keyboard. There's no word yet on when these features will be available for all Windows 11 users. Hopefully the rest of us won't have to wait too much longer to get the dark mode in the Paint app.Thu, 01 Jun 2023 18:10:02 +0000Windows 11 Beta Channel (KB5026443) adds WPA3 support to Phone Link instant hotspot by John Callaham Today, Microsoft has released builds 22621.1830 and 22631.1830 (KB5026443) to the Beta Channel for Windows 11 Insiders. The company writes in its blog post: Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22621.1830 and Build 22631.1830 (KB5026443) to the Beta Channel. Build 22631.1830 = New features rolling out. Build 22621.1830 = New features off by default. There's just one new feature in this release. It adds WPA3 support to the Phone Link instant hotspot feature: Changes and Improvements in Build 22631.1830 [Networking] We added WPA3 support to the Phone Link instant hotspot feature for more secure connections to a phone’s hotspot. Also made fixes to respect metered connection settings, reduce duplicate profiles, and show the phone’s display name in the network list. Microsoft also has a reminder for Beta Insider users: REMINDER: Insiders who were previously on Build 22624 will automatically get moved to Build 22631 via an enablement package. The enablement package artificially increments the build number for the update with new features getting rolled out and turned on to make it easier to differentiate from devices with the update with features off by default. This approach is being used for the Beta Channel only and is not indicative of any changes or plans for final feature rollouts. Insiders who landed in the group with new features turned off by default (Build 22621.xxxx) can check for updates and choose to install the update that will have features rolling out (Build 22631.xxxx). Here's some more info for Insiders: Important Insider Links Want to learn how we made Windows 11? Check out our Inside Windows 11 website to hear and meet our makers from Engineering, Design and Research to share their insights and unique perspectives throughout this journey. You can check out our Windows Insider Program documentation here. Check out Flight Hub for a complete look at what build is in which Insider channel. You can check out the full blog post here.Thu, 01 Jun 2023 17:19:21 +0000Thu, 01 Jun 2023 17:18:02 +0000Rainbow Six Siege, Farming Sim 22, and Ghostrunner hit Xbox Free Play Days this weekend by Pulasthi Ariyasinghe Microsoft's Free Play Days promotion for Xbox users took a rare break last week, but it's making up for it with a hit-filled games offering this time. The latest promotion has three games to try out for Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members on console: Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege, Farming Simulator 22: Platinum Edition, and Ghostrunner. Rainbow Six Siege, Ubisoft's long-running tactical shooter experience, offers five versus five action with a variety of operatives. Each available character comes with high-tech abilities, and the title touts levels with a large amount of destructibility for promoting strategic insertions. Next up is Ghostrunner, the single-player sci-fi experience where players take the role of a cyborg ninja, who slices and parkours through fast-paced and brutal levels. Both the enemies and the player character die in one hit, meaning players have to go through levels with precision to make it out alive. A sequel was also announced recently. The last game having a free event on Xbox this weekend is Farming Simulator 22. The latest entry in the hugely popular sim franchise offers over 500 farming machinery from real-world manufacturers to begin players' farming journey across agriculture, forestry, and animal husbandry. All the Free Play Days games of this weekend have discounts attached to them as well, making it cheaper to continue a playthrough even after the temporary free-to-play sessions. Here are the games' Microsoft Store pages for easy access: Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege Operator Edition - $35.99 (Xbox One, Series X|S) Farming Simulator 22 – Platinum Edition - 47.99 (Xbox One, Series X|S) Ghostrunner - $11.99 (Xbox One, Series X|S) This latest lineup of Xbox Free Play Days titles is available to install and try out through the weekend. Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members have access to the three games from now until Sunday, June 4 at 11:59pm PDT.Thu, 01 Jun 2023 16:52:02 +0000iOS 16 now runs on 90% of iPhones released in the last four years by Aditya Tiwari Apple has updated the iOS 16 and iPadOS 16 device usage data on its developer website. According to the latest numbers, iOS 16 now runs on 90% of the active iPhone models released in the last four years. This is followed by iOS 15 on 8% and older software versions grabbing the remaining device share. On the other hand, when considering all the active iPhones out there, the iOS 16 update runs on 81% of the devices which is a 28% jump from the iOS 16 usage data Apple released earlier this year. For reference, Apple collects usage data based on the devices that transact on its App Store. Talking about iPads, the iPadOS 16 software now runs on 76% of all devices released in the last four years. Meanwhile, 71% of all active iPad models run iPadOS 16 which is a 21% increment over the past numbers. When it comes to the latest software adoption, Apple devices have remained a few steps ahead of Android, largely due to the tight integration of the Apple ecosystem. For instance, Google's Android 11 R has the highest device share of all versions, as per the data last released in April this year. As of now, the latest stable versions of iOS and iPadOS out there are iOS 16.5 and iPadOS 16.5 released last month. The device usage data arrived just days ahead of WWDC 2023, where Apple will talk about its next major software updates, iOS 17 and iPadOS 17. You can check out the new WWDC23 Power Up playlist in the meantime. Among various features, iOS 17 is expected to bring the app sideloading functionality to iPhones along with redesigned system apps and turn-by-turn navigation on the lock screen. However, it's rumored that the sideloading feature will be limited to the Europe region only. For iPads, Apple is expected to trickle down various lock screen customizations of iOS 16 in the next major update. However, the information was provided by a new-deleted Twitter account.Thu, 01 Jun 2023 16:42:02 +0000Report claims Redfall developer Arkane Austin was understaffed and lacked direction by John Callaham Redfall was considered by Microsoft to be one of its big first-party exclusive games for its Xbox consoles and for the PC before it launched on May 2. Instead, the vampire-themed multiplayer PvE shooter received mediocre, at best, reviews from both game critics and gamers in general. Even Microsoft's Xbox head Phil Spencer admitted in a post-launch interview he was "disappointed" with the game's release. Now a new report from Bloomberg, using unnamed sources, claims that the development of Redfall at the Arkane Austin studio was troubled from start to finish. The studio's last game, before Microsoft's acquired its parent company ZeniMax Studios in 2021, was the critically acclaimed sci-fi single-player first-person shooter Prey. However, it wasn't a commercial success so the team came up with the multiplayer-themed Redfall to target a larger audience. However, the article claims that after the game got started in 2018, the direction of its development became unclear. It stated: Staff members said that, over time, they grew frustrated with management’s frequently shifting references to other games, such as Far Cry and Borderlands, that left each department with varying ideas of what exactly they were making. Throughout the development, the fundamental tension between single-player and multiplayer design remained unresolved. Arkane Austin also had issues with team members leaving and also encountered problems bringing in people to replace them. The studio reportedly had less than 100 team members, which is not that huge considering the type of multiplayer game that Redfall was aiming to provide to gamers. In the end, Redfall didn't come together, despite delays in its release date. It remains to be seen how the game will fare in the future, even if Arkane Austin continues to try to improve it and add content.Thu, 01 Jun 2023 16:30:01 +0000Microsoft Bing Chat expands to 300 daily turns and 30 in-session turns by John Callaham Microsoft has not expanded the limit for the number of daily and in-session chat turns in its Bing Chat chatbot since mid-March. At that time, the company tested going up to 200 daily chat turns and 20 in-session chat turns before making that new limit permanent. Now, the Bing Chat team has finally pushed up those chat turn limits to a new level. Microsoft's Head of Engineering and Product for Bing, Jordi Ribas, confirmed on Twitter that users can enjoy up to 300 chat turns per day, along with up to 30 in-session chat turns. Good news, we've increased Bing Chat turn limits again to 30 per conversation and 300 per day. pic.twitter.com/S4bEP2lslq — Jordi Ribas (@JordiRib1) June 1, 2023 Of course, we do have to wonder when and if Bing Chat will ever get unlimited turn chat sessions. That remains to be seen but for now, we will take this expansion in chat turns. Microsoft seems to be adding more and more new features and improvements to Bing Chat at a much more rapid pace compared to Google's updates for its competing Bard chatbot. Last week at Microsoft Build 2023, it revealed a large number of companies that are developing third-party plugins for Bing Chat. It also added Bing Chat support inside the SwiftKey app and launched the Android widget last week as well. Microsoft is also preparing for even more updates to Bing Chat during the month of June. That includes improvements in Bing Chat's disengagement rate, along with improvements for the AI art generator Bing Image Creator. Perhaps the biggest upcoming feature is a possible experiment to add Bing Chat support for web browsers other than Microsoft Edge. That should allow Bing Chat to expand its reach to many more people who either cannot access or simply don't want to use, Microsoft Edge as their web browser.Thu, 01 Jun 2023 16:28:56 +0000The free version of Microsoft Teams is adding Windows 11 communities and Designer support by John Callaham While Microsoft has been adding a lot of new features lately to the paid version of its Teams service, it is not forgetting the many users who access the free edition of Teams. Today, the company revealed several new features that are rolling out today to the Windows 11, iOS, and Android versions. In a blog post, Microsoft stated that one new feature is adding direct support for the public preview version of Microsoft Designer into the free version of Teams. Designer allows users to create things like blog posts, websites, digital postcards, and more with just a few text prompts and generative AI. Microsoft is also expanding its support for its Discord-like communities feature in Teams, which launched in December 2022. With this new update, communities are coming to Windows 11 devices in addition to the Teams mobile apps. The plan is to add support for Mac, Windows 10, and the web versions as well. Microsoft also stated: Rolling out in the coming days, and beginning on Windows 11, iOS, and Android, you can join communities focused on topics like parenting, gaming, gardening, technology, remote work, and more. Community owners will be able to set their community to be visible, starting on iOS and Android, enabling it to be discovered on Teams. Other new Teams community features include the ability for users to launch polls. Also posts in the communities features can be shared via emails, and owners of communities can either approve or reject people to join their group. The Teams mobile apps will now allow users to record videos as well. The iOS app will now let users scan a document with any emails or phone numbers and invite people with that info into the Teams communities. Microsoft has also updated the GroupMe app so it can now create Microsoft Teams calls from within the app.Thu, 01 Jun 2023 16:10:01 +0000Thu, 01 Jun 2023 16:00:02 +0000Google adds seven new features for Android, US users can get Dark Web reports as well by Anushe Fawaz Google I/O 2023 happened a few weeks ago when the company announced several features for Android devices alongside Google Pixel products like Pixel 7a. Today, it is introducing seven new capabilities to increase productivity and user safety and help them learn new skills. Among the seven features is Reading Practice. It helps readers improve their vocabulary and comprehension skills. Users can run it on their Android Tablets or phones and gain access to thousands of books. The children’s ebooks are marked with a “Practice” badge and let users hear and practice pronunciation of unfamiliar words and receive feedback in real-time. Additionally, users are getting three new widgets to customize their devices and add their desired shortcuts. The new widgets allow users to get personalized TV show and movie recommendations, receive headlines about their topics of interest, and track selected stocks. These are done through Google TV, Google News, and Google Finance respectively. The announcement also mentions a new watch face by Spotify for Google’s Wear OS. It provides users access to personalized music and podcasts they want to listen to. They can also access their playlists, 'like' the current song, or skip to the next or previous song right from the watch shortcut. Google is also offering users who commute in Washington, D.C., and the San Francisco Bay Area SmarTrip and Clipper cards via Google Wallet that they can access from their Wear OS. This lets them simply tap and ride and skip the line. On Google Keep for Wear OS, users can add a tile for fast access to a selected note or to-do list on their watch. They can swipe through the tiles to find the pinned notes they want quick access to. Furthermore, with GBoard and Emoji Kitchen, users can remix their favorite emoji into stickers. The Emoji Kitchen lets users combine their selected emojis to create a new and customized emoji they can share with others as messages. Lastly, Google is increasing user protection, especially for those in the US, by adding Dark Web Reports on the Google One website and app. With this, users can scan their email addresses to check if their emails have been exposed to the Dark Web. Additionally, Google One members in the US can check other details like their social security numbers and receive guidance on how to increase safety. Google mentioned that this feature will expand to 20 new countries in the coming months.Thu, 01 Jun 2023 15:38:02 +0000AMD Adrenalin 23.5.2 driver delivers Diablo IV support and Microsoft Olive optimizations by Pulasthi Ariyasinghe We are already in June but AMD is not finished with May it seems. The AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 23.5.2 release drops as May's second Radeon graphics driver update, and it carries official support for Blizzard Entertainment's latest game, plus AI improvements. Diablo IV is officially releasing on June 5, but Digital Deluxe and Ultimate Edition owners can jump in later today to begin their action-RPG adventure. This driver is a recommended install for anyone playing the game on Radeon hardware, although AMD hasn't detailed any specific improvements to look out for this time. The driver also touts major improvements to Microsoft's Olive DirectML pipeline for Stable Diffusion 1.5. In its testing on a Radeon RX 7900 XTX graphics card for acceleration, AMD has seen double the performance when using Stable Diffusion 1.5's "text-to-image diffusion generating 512 x 512 images." There are no fixed issues in this release unfortunately, but there are known issues to look out for: High idle power has situationally been observed when using select high-resolution and high refresh rate displays on Radeon™ RX 7000 series GPUs. Certain virtual reality games or applications may encounter suboptimal performance or occasional stuttering on Radeon™ RX 7000 series GPUs. Application crash may be intermittently observed while playing RuneScape™ on some AMD Graphics Products, such as the Radeon™ RX 5700 XT. Application crash or driver timeout may be observed during playback of AV1 video content using DaVinci Resolve™ Studio. Intermittent corruption may be observed after switching windows while play Nioh 2™ on some AMD Graphics Products, such as the Radeon™ RX 6800 XT. The WHQL-certified AMD Adrenalin Edition 23.5.1 driver can now be upgraded via the Radeon Settings app on Windows. Anyone looking for a standalone download link to install it directly can find the driver link on its release notes page here.Thu, 01 Jun 2023 15:28:02 +0000