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Windows 11 is getting a controversial Windows 10 feature that some people accuse of being pointless bloat

Techradar - Fri, 03/22/2024 - 09:02

Good news - Windows 11 users are getting the same additional embellishments for the lock screen that are currently rolling out in testing for Windows 10.

Essentially, these are compact lock screen cards that display various bits of info relating to the weather, finance, traffic, and sports scores. Microsoft is now deploying them in the Release Preview channel for Windows 11 test builds, as reliable Windows leaker PhantomOfEarth noticed on X (formerly Twitter).

These lock screen cards will be coming to Windows 11 as well, they are rolling out in 22631.3371 (KB5035942). Like in the Windows 10 update, there is no way to pick and choose which of the 4 cards you want, it's all or none. https://t.co/zNxG2LSb63 pic.twitter.com/hP6VvgYi3SMarch 21, 2024

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They are currently rolling out in testing, so not everyone will see the cards just yet. As for the functionality itself, it’s the same deal as in Windows 10 – you can either turn off the cards, or turn them on, but you’ll have the lot if they’re enabled.

You can’t pick and choose which cards are shown, and, for example, dump the finance one if you don’t care for it – this is an all-or-nothing scenario.

While PhantomOfEarth pointed out the cards in testing, Windows Latest also picked up on this, claiming that this feature is part of the March 2024 optional update, and it’ll be rolled out fully in next month’s cumulative update as a result. That’ll be for all users of Windows 11, not just testers (if it happens).

Analysis: A better layout, but that’s unlikely to mollify haters

Windows Latest further notes that the cards will be enabled by default when the April cumulative update arrives for Windows 11 (and presumably that’ll be the case for Windows 10 users, too). However, if you hate the idea of these info cards on the lock screen, you can turn off the feature.

What also won’t go down well with some is that clicking the cards opens up more details, but they’re fired up in the Edge browser (and MSN within it). This is another opportunity Microsoft is leveraging to promote Edge in other words (and inevitably it’ll be demanding to be your default browser, from time to time).

The good news for Windows 11 users is that the implementation of the info cards is better, with them being centrally aligned on the lock screen, with the time and date also aligned above. It’s a much neater look than on Windows 10, which seems clunky in comparison, but then Microsoft’s focus is obviously on its newer OS, with worrying about the finer points of layout on the older version of Windows clearly not a priority.

As raised previously when we discussed the Windows 10 incarnation of this lock screen feature, Microsoft will hopefully work on the ability to fine-tune the options in terms of specifying the cards you want, and those you don’t need displayed, rather than being forced to have them all on, or none.

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Still running Windows 7 or 8? Prepare for an Epic fail – Epic Games Store follows Steam and drops support for older operating systems

Techradar - Fri, 03/22/2024 - 06:42

The Epic Games Store has followed in the footsteps of Steam in dropping support for Microsoft’s desktop operating systems which are older than Windows 10 – although this hasn’t happened quite yet.

Epic gave notice in an announcement that support for Windows 7 and Windows 8 (or 8.1) will cease from June 2024, so just over two months’ time. Note that Windows 10 32-bit will also be dropped, but not the 64-bit version of the OS that the vast majority of folks run. There's no 32-bit version of Windows 11, of course.

So, support from June will be limited to Windows 10 64-bit and Windows 11 - and for macOS, version 10.13 or newer of Apple’s OS.

As mentioned, Epic is a bit later than Valve in closing down support for these older operating systems, because Steam enacted this measure at the start of 2024. As you might expect, there weren’t many PC gamers that were affected, going by Valve’s stats – fewer than 1% of Steam users had Windows 7/8 installed at the time. And the same is likely true for the Epic Games Store.

Analysis: Time to upgrade?

For the small niche of gamers who will be hit by this move, this will obviously be somewhat disappointing. Mind you, when June rolls around, this doesn’t mean you won’t be able to use the Epic Games Store at all. It’ll still work, it just won’t get any updates going forward, or be supported in any way. This means that after a while, bits of functionality might fail and the launcher will eventually probably start to misfire or stop working entirely.

Naturally, without updates, you’ll also be open to any vulnerabilities in Epic’s client, but then if you’re still running Windows 7 or 8, that’ll be the least of your worries – the exploits open to leverage in those systems will be far more worrying in nature, of course.

And that’s exactly why you shouldn’t be running Windows 7 or 8 any longer, anyway. It’s time to upgrade, one way or another – by which we mean make the move to Windows 10 (or Windows 11, if your PC spec is up to it), or take the obvious alternate route, a Linux distro (there are some solid Windows-like choices out there, after all).

What about Windows 10 32-bit users? Well, Microsoft does still support them, but there are very few of these folks out there now (certainly in the gaming world – Steam’s hardware survey doesn’t even list Windows 10 32-bit anymore, and hasn’t for a long time).

Via Neowin

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The Trustbuster Who Has Apple and Google in His Sights

NYT Technology - Fri, 03/22/2024 - 04:02
Jonathan Kanter, the head of the Justice Department’s antitrust division, made his boldest move on Thursday by accusing Apple of antitrust violations.

The A.I. Boom Makes Millions for an Unlikely Industry Player: Anguilla

NYT Technology - Fri, 03/22/2024 - 03:15
The small Caribbean territory brought in $32 million last year, more than 10 percent of its G.D.P., from companies registering web addresses that end in .ai.

With TikTok Under Fire, Brands That Rely on It Worry

NYT Technology - Thu, 03/21/2024 - 23:00
Many companies, particularly in the beauty and fashion industries, have boosted sales through the platform. They don’t really have a backup plan.

In One Key A.I. Metric, China Pulls Ahead of the U.S.: Talent

NYT Technology - Thu, 03/21/2024 - 23:00
China has produced a huge number of top A.I. engineers in recent years. New research shows that, by some measures, it has already eclipsed the United States.

In One Key A.I. Metric, China Pulls Ahead of the U.S.: Talent

NYT Technology - Thu, 03/21/2024 - 23:00
China has produced a huge number of top A.I. engineers in recent years. New research shows that, by some measures, it has already eclipsed the United States.

Apple Lawsuits: A Look at the Many Challenges Facing the Tech Giant

NYT Technology - Thu, 03/21/2024 - 17:20
The Justice Department’s lawsuit against Apple is the latest in a series of regulatory actions that are hitting the tech giant at the same time.

ChromeOS update lets you control which apps can see your location

Techradar - Thu, 03/21/2024 - 16:00

ChromeOS is slated to receive some new privacy tools in a future update, and chief among them is the ability to control your Chromebook’s location privacy setting. According to a post on the Google Cloud blog, the feature is an expansion of the privacy controls that the company added last year. They’re referring to the microphone and camera toggles from last April. Google didn’t really provide a whole lot of details in their post, but 9To5Google helped with a recent deep dive.

The site states you can determine which apps and system services on your laptop have “access [to] your geolocation”, giving you almost total anonymity. It’s not perfect. The publication explains that the tool “specifically disables Google Location Services," however it is still possible for an app or website to have an idea of where you currently are by looking at the IP address. 

ChromeOS new privacy tools

(Image credit: Google)

Geolocation controls do exist on ChromeOS, but are limited to the Chrome browser itself. On-device software is still free to collect your information unless you go into an app and manually disable the respective tool. This update will make the process easier to do. No more micromanaging.

Controls for camera, microphone, and location privacy

Alongside the privacy upgrade, ChromeOS will also introduce more granular camera, microphone, and geolocation controls. For certain apps like Instagram, you can decide how you want it to interact with your hardware. Access to a Chromebook’s microphone can be outright denied, allowed for free interaction, or something in between. For example, Instagram can connect to a webcam, but only when you, the user, are actively using the social network. Otherwise, the connection is blocked.

The Google Cloud blog does mention other features coming down the pipeline, but they pertain more towards enterprise customers; not everyday users. It talks about local data recovery as well as an expansion of Google’s data loss prevention policy.

A company representative told us the geolocation patch will roll out to all Chromebooks within the first half of 2024 – so hopefully before the end of June. 

To find the new tools, you’ll need to first launch the Settings menu, then go to the Security and Privacy tab. They’ll be under the Privacy controls. Or as an alternative, you can go to a specific app in Settings and expand the Permissions tab. The controls can also be found there.

If you're in the market for a new laptop, check out TechRadar's list of the best Chromebook for 2024.

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Reddit Rises 48% in First Day of Trading

NYT Technology - Thu, 03/21/2024 - 15:39
The social media company’s debut on the New York Stock Exchange was one of the first major tech initial public offerings of the year.

U.S. Sues Apple, Accusing It of Maintaining an iPhone Monopoly

NYT Technology - Thu, 03/21/2024 - 09:58
The lawsuit caps years of regulatory scrutiny of Apple’s wildly popular suite of devices and services, which have fueled its growth into a nearly $3 trillion public company.

A Meta Quest 3 bug has made the headset unusable for many, but a fix is coming

Techradar - Thu, 03/21/2024 - 07:15

If you haven't yet installed Meta Quest 3 update v62, you might want to keep it that way for a while longer. That’s because some users who have downloaded the update, which was released last month, have been plagued by an annoying warning popup telling them there’s dust or debris in their USB port, when this isn’t the case.

What makes this popup especially annoying is that even if you try to dismiss the erroneous warning it’ll reappear again and again, leaving the headset feeling “essentially worthless” according to some disgruntled Meta Quest 3 customers.

It’s not clear what's causing the issue – I haven’t seen the popup at all, and I’ve been using my Quest 3 every single day for my VR fitness experiment, and anecdotal accounts from social media suggest that even if two people are using the headset in similar ways, one may see the popup while the other doesn't. But now there’s some potentially good news from Meta.

The Meta Quest 3 and controllers on their charging station which is itself on a wooden desk next to a lamp

We suggest only using official Quest 3 chargers (Image credit: Meta)

On the main Meta Community Forum page where people have been sharing their experiences, an official Meta Quest Support moderator has shared an update saying “Issue Replicated. Fix In Progress.”

While this is great news for the many Quest 3 users annoyed by the bogus USB-C port warning, the moderator stressed that the team doesn’t yet have a timeline for when a fix will be available – just that they've been able to replicate the issue, and have started to test possible solutions.

This vagueness has resulted in undertandable annoyance amongst those affected – especially those who have been having troubles with the warning message for over six weeks since v62 rolled out. In the forum thread linked above, we’ve seen people threatening to never buy Meta VR tech ever again, recommending that people file chargebacks on the credit card they bought the headset with, and generally venting their frustrations with the issue.

If you’re in this boat, is there anything you can do?

What can you do to avoid the Quest 3 bug? 

The Meta Quest 3 resting on a blue couch with its controllers on a blanket

Can the bug be avoided? (Image credit: Meta)

As we said above, because there’s no obvious cause for this issue it’s tough for us to recommend what you can do to avoid it. The main piece of advice we can give is not to update to v62 if you haven’t already. 

If you've already updated to v62, based on what we've seen on the community thread we’d suggest only using the official Meta Quest 3 charging cable with your headset, as some people have suggested that third-party cables have been a cause of their problems. We’d also recommend using for headset for standalone experiences rather than wired ones to avoid setting off the popup.

If the popup is appearing for you, however, then there doesn’t appear to be much you can do beyond trying to push through it. We’ve seen some people say it only appears when their headset is 80-100% charged – so you might have success if you don't fully recharge your Quest 3 between sessions – and some people have said rebooting their device caused it to go away (though others have said it had zero effect).

Unfortunately, these are the best solutions we can come up with until Meta releases a proper update, so hopefully one isn’t too far away – although given the vagueness of the timeline Meta has offered, who knows how long we'll be waiting.

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Startup Avadain innovates manufacturing process for high-quality graphene

Memphis Business Journal - Thu, 03/21/2024 - 07:05
The startup Avadain works with graphene — a potentially era-setting material, with properties that could be applied across a wide range of applications. If successful, the firm stands to join the ranks of iconic innovative entrepreneurship in the Memphis area.

Reddit’s I.P.O. Is a Content Moderation Success Story

NYT Technology - Thu, 03/21/2024 - 04:05
The site’s journey from toxic cesspool to trusted news source illustrates the business value of keeping bad actors at bay.

Condé Nast’s Owners Set to Reap a $1.4 Billion Windfall From Reddit

NYT Technology - Wed, 03/20/2024 - 18:47
The Newhouse family, which controls the Advance media empire, made a 2006 investment of $10 million in the social site, which plans to go public on Thursday.

Reddit Said to Price IPO at $34 a Share, in a Positive Sign for Tech

NYT Technology - Wed, 03/20/2024 - 17:30
The social media company raised $748 million in the offering. Its shares begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday.

You can now finally use Sonos Voice Control with Spotify tunes – here's how

Techradar - Wed, 03/20/2024 - 16:35

Audio brand Sonos is expanding the reach of its Voice Control software to now support Spotify, allowing users to verbally command the streaming service.

All you have to do to control the app, according to the company, is to say the words “Hey Sonos, play Spotify” into one of the brand’s supported speakers. That’s literally it. Doing so will play one of your Spotify playlists at random. If you want the software to play a specific playlist, you’ll have to mention it by name, like "Discover Weekly," for example. The feature does extend beyond just being a glorified play button, as it can also be used to help manage your library. 

You can instruct Sonos to add certain songs to a playlist. It can also like or dislike tracks for you with the right command. Telling it “Hey Sonos, I like this song” will make the AI save that piece of music into your account’s 'Liked Songs.' 

Additionally, Voice Control can play specific genres or subgenres of music, be it jazz or classic alternative from the 1990s. You don’t have to be super specific; Spotify’s algorithm has a good understanding of what people are looking for.

Security and availability

It’s worth mentioning commands are processed locally on your Sonos speaker to ensure “fast response times and easy follow-ups”. The company also states no audio – be it from your voice or the surrounding environment – will be saved on any cloud server or listened to by some random third-party. 

Now, there are two ways to connect a Sonos speaker to Spotify. You can either manually choose Spotify to be the default source or make the platform be the most prominent music service played through the speaker. Users won’t have to login or make any changes to the settings.

It’s unknown if Voice Control will learn your listening habits. That is, if a Sonos device notices you frequently access Spotify, will it automatically adjust music sources? 

Spotify’s new support on Sonos Voice Control is available right now to both Premium subscribers as well as free users. Simply download the latest patch on your devices.

While we have you, check out TechRadar's roundup of the best soundbars for 2024. Spoiler alert: Sonos makes an appearance on the list.

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These Mobile Games are For the Birds

NYT Technology - Wed, 03/20/2024 - 15:00
How do you design an app for a parrot? Consider games that are “made to be licked,” a new study suggests.

Intel Receives $8.5 Billion in Grants to Build Chip Plants

NYT Technology - Wed, 03/20/2024 - 14:56
The award, announced by President Biden at a plant in Arizona, is the biggest the government has made under a new program that aims to rebuild the nation’s semiconductor manufacturing industry.

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