Windows 11 Control Panel will soon be removed

Microsoft has confirmed that it will remove the Control Panel from Windows 11. This has been in the works for a long time, since 2015 to be precise. A recently updated document on the Microsoft website shows that the legacy app has been deprecated in favor of the Settings app. Users have criticized the Redmond company for pushing for the removal of the Control Panel, arguing that the Settings app lacks
several options available in the old app. The design of the Windows 11 Settings app has also been a point of criticism, with options hidden under multiple menus, making navigation difficult. Microsoft has slowly migrated options from the Control Panel to the Settings app, such as the ability to uninstall Windows updates.

It is not clear when CP will be discontinued, but it could be discontinued as early as Windows 11 22H4, which is expected to be released in fall 2024.

Update Google Chrome now to patch a critical security vulnerability

Google has updated Chrome for Windows, macOS, and Linux to versions 128.0.6613.84 and 128.0.6613.85, respectively. The updates close 38 security vulnerabilities related to passwords, fonts, autofill, etc. They also include a fix for a zero-day exploit. This is the ninth zero-day security issue discovered in Chrome this year.

The issue, tracked as CVE-2024-7971, was discovered by Microsoft. Google is rather vague about the bug, saying only that it is related to the V8 JavaScript engine in the browser, more specifically type confusion. Even more worryingly, the vulnerability has already been exploited by hackers. The vulnerabilities have also been patched in Chrome for Android and iOS, and users are advised to update their browser as soon as possible to protect themselves from attacks.

Apple Podcasts launches for web browsers

Podcast fans now have a new way to access their favorite shows and episodes on desktop. Apple Podcasts is now supported on all web browsers, including Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Apple Safari.

Avid listeners can head to https://podcasts.apple.com/ and listen to their favorite shows. Users can log in to their Apple account to sync their subscriptions and data across devices, such as iPhone, iPad, or Mac. The web version of Apple Podcasts is pretty basic: you can play/pause the audio stream, adjust the volume, view the episode notes, and access the next section. Notably, it lacks support for transcripts, also known as closed captions, which are available in the Podcasts app for macOS, iOS, and iPadOS.

Windows recall coming in October

Microsoft is still working on Windows Recall, the controversial feature that takes a snapshot of your screen every five seconds. The idea is to collect user data and store it on their computer, process the data, and allow them to interact with something in their usage history. All of this is powered by AI. Security experts and users had criticized the feature as it could expose personal data like pictures, videos, documents, browsing patterns, and other data that could be stolen by malware. Microsoft mitigated the risks by preventing the app from collecting data like passwords, credit card information, etc., but it still hasn’t convinced privacy enthusiasts. Ultimately, Microsoft backtracked and removed Windows Recall when CoPilot+ PCs launched a few months ago.

However, it seems that Microsoft intends to introduce the AI ​​app. Windows Recall will roll out in October 2024, but only for users of the Windows Insider program. It is possible that the AI-powered feature will be made available in the stable version of Windows 11 in 2025.

Microsoft Teams is now a unified app for all users

Microsoft has finally fixed an issue that has been bugging users for a long time. It introduced a single unified app for Teams. To provide some context, Microsoft Teams was introduced for all users, regardless of whether someone had a work or education account or just a personal account. However, the app was split into two parts, one for personal use while the other was for education and work. This was only part of the problem, as Windows comes with both apps and simply searching for Teams might show both apps, which was quite confusing for users.

The new Microsoft Teams app solves these problems because anyone can log into their account in the app. Interestingly, the app also supports multiple accounts and allows users to join a meeting as a guest. The app also offers a community feature that is intended exclusively for personal users.

Google Keep adds support for Gemini AI

Thanks to Google Gemini, Google Keep has gained AI-powered features. The note-taking app, which is very useful for jotting down to-do lists, now allows you to create a list using AI. This is possible through a feature called “Help me create a list,” which is available when you select “Create a new note.”

When you select this option, you’ll need to describe the type of list you want to create, such as a shopping list for healthy dinners. The app will then create a list based on your preferences. This feature is currently being tested in the Android version of Google Keep.

Microsoft launches its most powerful AI model

Microsoft has announced that it is launching the Phi 3.5 family of language models for its artificial intelligence products. These include Phi 3.5 mini-instruct, Phi 3.5 MoE-instruct, and Phi 3.5 vision-instruct.

The Phi-3.5 Mini-Instruct model is designed for code generation, mathematical problem solving, and logic-based reasoning and supports up to 3.820 billion parameters. In tests, it outperformed models such as the Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct and the Mistral-7B-Instruct. The Phi-3.5 Mixture of Experts has 42 billion active parameters and combines multiple models into one to enable efficient code comprehension and handle multilingual content. The Phi-3.5 Vision-Instruct is designed for text and image processing tasks such as optical character recognition (OCR), chart and graph recognition including tables. It can also analyze content in multiple frames, which can be handy for summarizing content in videos and summarizing videos. This could give Microsoft a significant boost in the world of commercial AI apps and research to compete with the products of OpenAI, Google, and Meta.