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From Russia, Elaborate Tales of Fake Journalists

NYT Technology - Mon, 03/18/2024 - 21:00
As the Ukraine war grinds on, the Kremlin has created increasingly complex fabrications online to discredit Ukraine’s leader and undercut aid. Some have a Hollywood-style plot twist.

Supreme Court Wary of Limiting Government Contact With Social Media Companies

NYT Technology - Mon, 03/18/2024 - 14:33
The justices tried to distinguish between persuading social media sites to take down posts, which is permitted, and coercing them, which violates the First Amendment.

YouTube Music will finally let you look up tracks just by singing into your phone

Techradar - Mon, 03/18/2024 - 14:01

It took a little while, but YouTube Music is, at long last, giving users the ability to search for songs just by singing a tune into a smartphone’s microphone.

The general YouTube app has had this feature since mid-October 2023, and judging from recently found images on Reddit, the version on YouTube Music functions in the exact same way. In the upper right corner next to the search bar is an audio chart icon. Tapping it activates song search where you then either play, sing, or hum a tune into your device. 

Using the power of artificial intelligence, the app will quickly bring up a track that, according to 9To5Google, matches “the sound to the original recording.” The tool’s accuracy may depend entirely on your karaoke skills. 

Missing details

Because there hasn't an official announcement yet, there are a lot of missing details. For starters, it’s unknown how long you're supposed to sing or hum. The original tool required people to enter a three-second input before it could perform a search. Presumably it will take the same amount of time, but without official word from the platform, it’s hard to say with total confidence.

Online reports claim the update is already available on YouTube Music for iOS. However, 9To5Google states they couldn’t find the feature on either their iPhones or Android devices. Our Android phone didn’t receive the patch either so it’s probably seeing a limited release at the moment. 

We reached out to Google asking if it would like to share official info about YouTube Music’s song search tool alongside a couple of other questions. More specifically, we wanted to know if the feature is rolling out to everyone, or will it require a YouTube Music Premium plan? We will update if we get answers. 

You can't listen to music without a good pair of headphones. For recommendations, check out TechRadar's list of the best wireless headphones for 2024.

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Google Drive is finally getting a dark mode – and this makes me happy

Techradar - Mon, 03/18/2024 - 13:59

It looks like Google Drive could finally get a dark mode option for its web version, meaning perusing documents could become a lot easier on the eye for people who like their web pages muted rather than a searing while. 

This information comes courtesy of 9to5Google, which reports that one of its Google accounts received an update that prompts users to try out a “New Dark mode” so that they can “enjoy Drive in the dark”. The option to trigger this dark mode is reportedly under the ‘Appearance’ option in the Settings menu of Drive, but I’ve not seen this in either my personal Drive or my workspace Drive. 

However, from the images 9to5Google provided, it looks like the dark mode in Drive is rolling out bit by bit, and will be a fairly straightforward integration of the mode that one can find in Android, Chrome and other Google apps. No icons are changed in terms of design or color, rather the background switches from white to black, with text flipping to white – all fairly standard. 

There’s some difference in shading between the inner portion of Drive, where one will find documents and files, compared to the sidebar and search bar; the former is black, while the latter is slightly grey in tone. 

Is this a huge deal? Not really, but for people who work late into the evening, the ability to switch from light mode to dark can be a blessing on tired eyes. And having a dark mode can offer a more pleasant experience for some people in general, regardless of the time of the day. 

I’m definitely up for more dark mode options in Google services and beyond. Where once I thought dark mode was overhyped, I started using it on some of the best Android phones and my iPhone 15 Pro Max and haven't really looked back – it makes scrolling through various apps in bed more comfortable, though common sense would say you’re better of putting your phone down when in bed and picking up a book instead. 

My hope is that by bringing dark mode Drive, Google will better integrate dark options into more of its apps and services, especially in Gmail, which has a dark mode but won’t apply it to actual emails when using the web versions, which is jarring. So fingers crossed for a more ubiquitous dark mode from Google.

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Tesla’s Troubles Raise Questions About Its Invincibility

NYT Technology - Mon, 03/18/2024 - 13:49
As the share price plunges, investors wonder whether the company, led by Elon Musk, can withstand intensifying competition.

The end of ‘Hackintosh’ – how Apple is sounding the death knell for a once-thriving online community

Techradar - Mon, 03/18/2024 - 13:28

The beloved ‘Hackintosh’ may be on its last legs, as Apple’s macOS 14 Sonoma kills off a selection of older Wi-Fi drivers in its signature operating system allowing users to run it properly on purpose-built hardware.

For the uninitiated, a Hackintosh was the term given to a non-Apple computer or other device running macOS. The benefits of this are pretty obvious: for starters, Apple’s best MacBooks and Macs can cost a pretty penny, and are usually the only way to access macOS.

On top of that, Apple’s hardware can be limited for some users – if you want a super-powered scientific modeling PC with a ludicrous amount of RAM, for example, you’d normally be limited to purpose-built Windows and Linux machines. Then there's also the silly (but fun) edge cases, like running macOS on a Nintendo DS.

The latest version of macOS, Sonoma, has removed driver support for a selection of old Broadcom Wi-Fi cards found in some Mac models from 2012/13. That might not sound like a big problem in itself (after all, that hardware is more than a decade old now). But Hackintosh fan and app developer Aleksandar Vacić has pointed out that those cards were integral to fully-functioning Hackintosh builds, and a driver shift from .kext to .dext formats has similarly hamstrung other workarounds.

A sad day for macOS lovers… who don’t like Macs

Hackintosh fans formed a small but lively online community around their custom macOS rigs, and some users are already bemoaning the impending death of their favorite homebrew hardware.

As one commenter on OSNews put it Hackintoshes were “a great way to have a machine that Apple doesn’t offer anymore – unsightly big box full of hardware.” Many have noted that Apple dropping Intel and shifting to ARM-based chips for its Macs, starting the release of the very impressive M1 chip seen in the 2020 MacBook Air, was the first sign that the Hackintosh glory days might be coming to an end, and that prophecy seems to be ringing true.

Without proper Wi-Fi driver support, the only way to run Sonoma on non-Apple hardware now seems to be doing so without Wi-Fi at all, which has the knock-on effect of borking many apps in macOS, including FaceTime, AirDrop, and Continuity. With one of the aforementioned Wi-Fi cards and an older version of macOS, all of those tools worked just fine.

At the end of the day, the humble Hackintosh represented a path forward for users who loved the OS, but hated (or simply couldn’t afford) the hardware. It’s no surprise that some fans are upset by its slow death, but the writing was on the wall; the Hackintosh community has undeniably been shrinking ever since the tech giant abandoned Intel’s x86 processors.

Google’s time to shine?

Personally, as TechRadar’s resident macOS hater, I won’t really shed a tear about this. There was one comment on OSNews that resonated with me, though: user ‘cpcf’, who said “we discard so much hardware long, long before its natural use-by-date simply because some software somewhere says ‘No!’”

It’s an excellent point, although I’m not dragging Apple directly here; ending support for decade-plus-old kit isn’t ridiculous. But killing users’ ability to keep their old home-made Macs running is a shame, especially considering that Apple hasn’t historically hated the ‘Hackintosh’ trend too much. Another user speculates about macOS being given the open API license treatment, suggesting Apple takes a stance of “Here’s our driver API so 3rd parties can make drivers, here’s the OS. If you want to run it on an x86 PC, pay us $200.”

It’s not a bad idea, and could be a way for Apple to make a bit of side cash off its older macOS versions, but I doubt it’ll ever happen. Apple prides itself on its tightly insulated software ecosystem, and Google beat macOS to the punch anyway. ChromeOS Flex already offers a cheap and easy alternative OS for almost any machine, an admirable way to beat the current e-waste crisis. Good job, Google; sorry you missed the boat, Apple.

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Spotify for Windows 11's annoying new update shoves one of the app’s most important features to the side

Techradar - Mon, 03/18/2024 - 12:49

Spotify recently released the new “Jam” feature for its Windows 11 and 10 app, which allows users to listen to the same playlist or album at the same time on different devices. So you and a friend or coworker can enjoy the same tunes while you work, study, or just jam out (hence the name). However, with this new feature, the queue list has been booted to a small space on the right side of the app's UI. 

Please, please change it back. This is the opposite of an improvement.

foryoublue94 via Spotify Forum

This change has proven to be rather unfavorable among Spotify users, who’ve taken to Reddit to voice their complaints. The official blog post that announces the arrival of Jam dubs this change as the “new Queue experience”, explaining that the right sidebar now allows you to browse content in the app and keep an eye on what's currently playing. 

The official post has several disgruntled comments from users dismayed by the change, with one user saying “Why on earth has Queue and Recently Played been moved and is now cramped into the small right-hand column? This is just horrible, and a pain to look at. It makes zero sense from a usability standpoint.

Thanks, I hate it 

You may be thinking something along the lines of what an odd little change for people to be riled up about! Pre-update, you could have your library on the left, your queue in the center, and your Now Playing view on the right. In other words, you could boot up the app and have everything you need all in one place. Now, you can only have one or two of these views open at once because of the new layout. 

If you’re someone who’s a fan of the Jam feature and plans to use it quite often with your mates, you’re probably not as upset as other users. But, as a person who will probably never use the Jam feature, I feel robbed of a pretty decent app layout with nothing in return. Now, I am no longer able to see how long the current song is or the album name in the queue.

It seems like Spotify users live in fear of every new update that is implemented. A common notion that’s shared on Spotify Reddit and in the blog post comments is ‘another Spotify update, another change no one asked for.’ I use Spotify every day, and I can’t remember a single update implemented to the app on mobile and desktop that didn’t make me mad. Hopefully, we can convince Spotify to change everything back to how it was - or we'll just end up waiting until another update comes around and knocks everything out of place again. 

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What Elon Musk Said in Testy Interview on Don Lemon’s New Show

NYT Technology - Mon, 03/18/2024 - 08:45
The former CNN frontman released a wide-ranging interview with the billionaire about business, politics, hate speech online and more.

The display specs for Samsung's first XR headset may have just leaked

Techradar - Mon, 03/18/2024 - 08:11

We're expecting a Samsung XR/VR headset in the near future – that's extended reality and/or virtual reality – and a new leak gives us a better idea of the display specs the hardware device might bring along with it.

According to Daily Korea (via SamMobile), the headset will use a micro-OLED display supplied by Sony, with a size of 1.3 inches, a resolution of 3,840 x 3,552 pixels, a refresh rate of 90 frames per second, and a maximum brightness of 1,000 nits.

For comparison, the Meta Quest 3 headset launched last year offers a resolution of 2,064 x 2,208 pixels per eye, an experimental 120Hz refresh rate mode, and a 90Hz standard refresh rate mode. The size of the displays isn't specified, but they use LCD technology, and you can read our thoughts on it in our Meta Quest 3 review.

As for the Apple Vision Pro, inside that particular device we've got micro-OLED tech. Apple doesn't specify a resolution, but does say there are 23 million pixels across both displays, and the refresh rate goes up to 100Hz. As our Apple Vision Pro review will tell you, it offers rather impressive visual performance.

Coming soon?

Samsung announced it was working on an XR headset all the way back at the start of 2023, with Google and Qualcomm helping out. It's yet to see the light of day though – there have been rumors that the launch of the Vision Pro gave Samsung executives enough food for thought that they decided to take more time over their own device.

Extended reality or XR, if you're unfamiliar, is the catch-all term for virtual reality (entirely enclosed virtual worlds), augmented reality (digital elements laid on top of the real world), and mixed reality (digital elements and the real world interacting in more realistic ways, like an upgraded augmented reality).

So far we've seen a battery leak, got confirmation that the Snapdragon XR2 Plus Gen 2 chipset will power the device, and... that's been about it for specs and features. There've been more leaks regarding a launch, which could happen in the second half of the year, 

Specifically, that might mean July. Samsung held an Unpacked launch event in July 2023, and is expected to do the same this year, giving full unveilings to the Galaxy Z Fold 6, the Galaxy Z Flip 6, the Galaxy Watch 7, the Galaxy Ring, and probably more besides.

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Copilot AI’s mission to infiltrate the Windows 11 desktop appears to have advanced another step

Techradar - Mon, 03/18/2024 - 05:48

Copilot is creeping into another corner of the Windows 11 interface, it seems, with the AI assistant seen in the context menu of File Explorer.

This is still in test builds of Windows 11, mind, and not officially either. Windows Latest flagged up the change, which was first noticed by PhantomOfEarth, a well-known leaker on X (formerly Twitter) who previously picked up on clues that File Explorer integration was inbound for Copilot back in January 2024.

Here's how the Copilot entry in File Explorer context menus will appear. It will show some actions you can take for files using Copilot, like summarizing and describing text files. https://t.co/15KXTKcaBn pic.twitter.com/N6HhIB8pWkMarch 17, 2024

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Now we can see how the context menu option will work, enabling you to right click on a file, and choose to send it to Copilot – open the AI’s panel with the file active, as if you’d dragged it in there – or to elect to ‘summarize’ the file. The latter choice being the standard option for Copilot to summarize a document or PDF for example.

Even though we’ve caught a glimpse of the menu now, it still doesn’t work (which is why it isn’t officially running in Windows 11 previews – yet). As Windows Latest makes clear, if you click to summarize, a summary isn’t provided.

Other options may be added down the line, too. In fact, it’s very likely we’ll see a ‘rewrite’ choice for example, allowing for rewriting a document, another task Copilot is currently capable of.

Analysis: Copilot’s future flight path

We can expect to see Copilot’s tendrils snaking into all parts of the Windows 11 interface eventually, which may not be to everyone’s tastes.

Those who don’t want to use the AI, or even see it in Windows at all, can ignore it, or turn off the functionality for the time being (one way or another) – but there will come a point where Copilot will be the beating heart of Microsoft’s OS, and you’ll have to use AI, like it or not. Although the functionality provided will probably be pretty advanced and undeniably useful (or indeed indispensable) at that stage.

This particular move is not a big intrusion into the desktop, though. We’re talking about an extra line in the right-click menu, and perhaps Microsoft will be incorporating an option to turn it off as well. In the same way you can remove the Copilot icon from the taskbar if you wish – maybe there’ll be a way to switch all the AI’s functions off with an easy flick of a toggle. (Or an instruction, perhaps: “Copilot, remove yourself from all parts of my Windows 11 interface” – we wouldn’t bank on it, mind).

As long as users have a choice, that’s a good thing, but as we’ve already said, in the future we feel there likely won’t be a choice as such because Copilot will pretty much become Windows, or the central pillar of the OS. Windows 2030 might just be called Copilot 2030.

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Storing Renewable Energy, One Balloon at a Time

NYT Technology - Mon, 03/18/2024 - 00:00
To decarbonize the electrical grid, companies are finding creative ways to store energy during periods of low demand.

What Meltdown? Crypto Comes Roaring Back in the Philippines.

NYT Technology - Sun, 03/17/2024 - 23:00
Two years after the cryptocurrency market crashed, internet cafes for playing crypto-earning video games are opening and farmers have started harvesting virtual crops from the games for income.

The Department of Homeland Security Is Embracing A.I.

NYT Technology - Sun, 03/17/2024 - 23:00
The agency will be the first in the federal government to roll out a comprehensive plan to integrate the technology into a variety of uses, from fighting crime to helping disaster survivors.

Walmart makes its AI-powered route optimization logistics tech available to businesses

Memphis Business Journal - Sun, 03/17/2024 - 20:42
Walmart's Commerce Technology arm is now offering Route Optimization as a software as a service (SaaS) to businesses.

Elon Musk to Open Source Grok Chatbot in Latest AI War Escalation

NYT Technology - Sun, 03/17/2024 - 17:07
Mr. Musk’s move to open up the code behind Grok is the latest volley in a war to win the A.I. battle, after a suit against OpenAI on the same topic.

Khanna Explains Opposition to TikTok Bill While Senators Signal Openness

NYT Technology - Sun, 03/17/2024 - 16:15
The California Democrat Ro Khanna pointed to the need for a federal data privacy law, and a Democrat and a Republican in the Senate suggested sympathy for the calls to ban the app.

Anyone can now browse through Apple Vision Pro apps on the web

Techradar - Sun, 03/17/2024 - 12:30

You no longer need an Apple Vision Pro to look at Vision Pro apps, because the visionOS App Store is now available for browsing on the web – just like the equivalent App Stores for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and tvOS.

Head to the Vision Pro App Store in your browser (as spotted by 9to5Mac), and you're able to browse through categories including business, entertainment, and education. You can also find iPhone and iPad apps and games that'll run on the Vision Pro.

You can read our Apple Vision Pro review to get an idea of how much we love the mixed reality headset – and it's now even more appealing, because you don't have to don the device to check out new apps you might be interested in.

What's more, it gives people who don't own one of the headsets a chance to see the apps that are available for it. When you're spending $3,499 (about £2,750 / AU$5,330) and up on a piece of hardware, maybe you want to see what you'll be able to do on it before buying.

A wider roll out

Apple Vision Pro App Store

See anything you like? The Apple Vision Pro App Store (Image credit: Future)

The experience of browsing through the visionOS App Store is very similar to what you may already be familiar with when you browse for apps for other devices – and some app listings have simply had an extra Apple Vision tab added to them.

You can check out screenshots, see descriptions of the apps and reviews that have been left by other users, and get information about the data collected by each app. Details of app prices and in-app purchase prices are also shown.

It's possible that the launch of the Vision Pro App Store on the web is something to do with the headset's rumored international launch. At the moment, you can only buy the device in the US, but that could be changing in the near future.

There's also been talk that a cheaper version of the Vision Pro could be in the pipeline – though it might not break cover until 2026. It may not be selling in massive numbers yet, but there's no doubting Apple's commitment to the Vision Pro.

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Leaked Apple roadmap hints at iPhone SE 4, foldable iPhone, and AR glasses launch dates

Techradar - Sun, 03/17/2024 - 08:30

We've heard plenty of rumors about the iPhone SE 4, the foldable iPhone, and the Apple AR glasses, and now a leaked roadmap has given us a better idea of when we might actually see these devices get launched.

The document, apparently from finance company Samsung Securities, was leaked by well-known tipster @Tech_Reve (via Wccftech). It offers an overview of what's on the way from Apple for the next few years, up until 2027.

It's in 2027 when we'll apparently get the augmented reality glasses. We've not heard much about the specs in recent months, with the Apple Vision Pro taking most of the attention when it comes to AR and VR (or mixed reality, if you prefer). We're also, it seems, getting a cheaper Vision Pro sometime in 2026.

A foldable 20-inch iPad is slated to arrive in 2027, with the foldable 8-inch iPhone turning up a year before. That's somewhat in opposition to recent rumors that said the foldable iPad would turn up first – though considering a foldable iPhone would be about the size of an iPad mini anyway, there may be some confusion over which product is which.

Coming soon

Apple's next product roadmapSource: Samsung securities pic.twitter.com/n3TT7W9vqEMarch 16, 2024

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There's also a mention of the long-rumored OLED MacBook in 2026, and then looking at next year, we've got the iPhone SE 4 mentioned. That matches up with a rumor from last month that pointed to an early 2025 launch for the mid-ranger – with a switch to a more modern design and an OLED display also being talked about.

As for the rest of this year, it looks very much as though we'll get an 11-inch iPad Pro and a 12.9-inch iPad Pro, both running OLED screens. Most tipsters have predicted a 2024 launch for these tablets, and they could show up any day now (though you might have to get your orders in quickly for the 11-inch version).

The usual caveats about leaks and rumors apply: these dates might not be completely accurate, and even if they are, Apple's plans can always change. That said, this roadmap does  match up nicely with other bits of information that have leaked out.

If Apple does indeed launch new iPads in the near future, the next big announcements to expect will be about iOS 18, artificial intelligence, and Apple's other software. That will be at WWDC (the Worldwide Developers Conference) 2024, happening sometime in June.

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Windows 11 update is reportedly causing some PCs to crash or run very sluggishly

Techradar - Sun, 03/17/2024 - 05:32

Windows 11’s cumulative update for this month is causing serious problems in some reported cases.

This is KB5035853 for Windows 11 23H2 and 22H2 which started rolling out earlier this week carrying some useful new features. That includes being able to use the Snipping Tool to edit photos from your Android smartphone directly on your PC, plus adding support for much faster (80Gbps) wired connectivity with USB4 v2.0.

However, some Windows 11 users have hit major snags when installing the March update, with Windows Latest highlighting these, and the site experiencing a Blue Screen of Death (BSoD) itself after running the update process.

The tech site’s BSoD arrived with an error saying ‘Thread Stuck in Device Driver’ which isn’t very helpful, and others have been hit by this problem, such as a reader running a bunch of Lenovo devices (in a business setting).

Furthermore, there’s evidence of this nasty crash on the Reddit thread introducing KB5035853. One user tells us: “This update caused a Windows to crash on startup. Got blue screen error. Had to rollback. Just a warning. That happen to anyone else?”

Someone chimes in to say they were affected too (and got put in a boot loop, with repeated reboots, before ending up at that BSoD).

There are other reports on this thread noting that the update did install, but then caused ‘random’ BSoDs afterwards.

On top of this, there are also folks who are complaining about Windows 11 running sluggishly, with their PC stuttering after the update, or even freezing up periodically.

Analysis: Fixing with one hand, breaking with the other?

These are really unpleasant side-effects here, and the cure so far seems to be simply rolling back the installation (removing KB5035853, or using System Restore to rewind time back to before the update was triggered).

On Reddit, there is a mention of a YouTube video that offers potential solutions, and we’ve had a look – there are a couple of clips, in fact – but we’d take the advice imparted with a hefty pinch of salt. Some folks in the YouTube comments have reported seeing success, and others have said the fixes outlined have failed. But for now, rather than trying what seems like shots in the dark as attempted cures, if you’re affected, we’d probably just go for reverting the update and waiting for Microsoft to investigate these glitches.

(It’s worth noting that in the YouTube comments there are also further complaints of PCs seriously chugging with slowdown post-update).

At the moment, Microsoft’s support document for the March cumulative update indicates there are no known issues.

The irony here is that this March update addresses a problem with the February update for Windows 11 whereby it failed to install (and got stuck at 96% complete with an error code and a helpful message saying that ‘something did not go as planned’). So, the patch curing that problem with the previous patch failing to install, also fails to install in a different, and in fact worse, way.

Hopefully Microsoft is on the case with this one as we type this. It’s difficult to say how widespread the BSoD problem is, but there are certainly enough reports of post-installation performance blues to suggest that something has gone awry with KB5035853.

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Google Drive could add a smart new way to keep your files organized

Techradar - Sat, 03/16/2024 - 10:30

Finding your way around your Google Drive files could be about to get a lot easier: there's evidence that you'll soon be able to categorize your files into different groups, like banking and work, to keep them better organized.

This is according to hidden code spotted in the Google Drive app by TheSpAndroid (via Android Police). Apps often lay the coding groundwork for future features, before those features go live and are announced to users.

As per the app, the categories you'll be able to make use of are Auto, Banking, Expenses, Home, IDs, Insurance, Medical, Pets, School, Taxes, Travel, and Work. From this leak, it doesn't seem as though custom labels will be allowed, but those 12 categories cover the business of modern life pretty well.

As Android Police points out, these categories are similar to the labeling system that companies can use in Google Workspace. However, this should be available to individual users too, across Android, iOS, and the web.

How it'll work

Google Drive category feature leak

How the upcoming feature might look (Image credit: TheSpAndroid)

Here's how it's going to work: From the Home tab in the Android app, you'll be able to tap the three dots next to a file, then choose from the categories list. A file can be in multiple categories, potentially making the feature more useful than the current folders system.

We don't get any indication here about when the switch might be flipped to give users access to file categories: the report on TheSpAndroid says "it won't come very soon", so presumably there's still work to do before it's ready for the public.

Given Google's recent and very committed push into artificial intelligence features, it's possible that some kind of AI processing might be involved as well, in categorizing files for you (or at least suggesting categories based on a file name or its contents). Suggested categories do appear in the screens produced by the hidden code.

We now know that Google I/O 2024 is getting underway on May 14 this year, so in between all the Android 15 and Pixel 8a news we might get an announcement or two regarding new Google Drive features – and of course we'll bring you all the news from the event.

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