Tech News Weekly: Issue 148
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Article(s)
Support switching to AI-based chats
The rise of artificial intelligence may change support as we know it. Soon, you may have to communicate with an AI before you get the option to interact with a human.
Granted, support ranges from abysmal to excellent, with major companies making it often difficult to reach a human representative, or offering low-quality support only.
Chatbots in the past were designed to improve support, but the systems were woefully limited and usually keyword-based.
Organizations could upgrade support with AI. The AI would have to be trained extensively on support documents and other data.
While it may never be able to rival excellent support personell, it could beat below-than-average support.
Apple, reportedly, started to test a dedicated chat button in its Support Assistant that is AI-based. Apple users may interact with the AI to get answers about questions that they may have regarding Apple products and services.
Good news is that Apple still includes an option to contact a human support assistant.
Is AI the future of support? Some organizations may see it as an opportunity to reduce labor costs or shut down their support personell entirely.
Another interesting question is how customers will react when they are required to chat with AI systems to get problems fixed.
Don’t use cloud storage services like OneDrive to migrate files to new PCs
Millions of Windows users are making the move to Windows 11. Either by purchasing a new PC with Windows 11 or upgrading an existing PC.
Microsoft recommends using the migrate feature of the Windows Backup app to move files and some data from one PC to another. While that may be convenient, it comes with its own list of problems.
The three main ones are storage limits, that you push your files to the cloud (and potentially give Microsoft access to them), and that you may end up with a banned account, if an automated system detects something inappropriate during its automated scans.
So, while you could use the tool to move files, a far better option is to use an external drive for that. Even small USB drives have capacities that exceed OneDrive’s storage limits for free users significantly. Plus, unless you have a really really fast upload speed, you may transfer the files faster using local means.
It is always a good idea to separate operating system files from personal files. Using a secondary drive for personal files is another good option, as you could simply add it to the new PC, if an empty slot is available. Does not really work well for laptops though.
You could also use specialized tools. EaseUS Todo PCTrans Free is good for 2 gigabytes of data and 5 programs. While that may not be sufficient, you could use it to migrate your most important applications from one PC to another.
News
Operating Systems
A Microsoft veteran revealed why Microsoft switched Windows versions from using Spring and Fall, e.g., the Fall Creators Update, to using year and H1/H2 for its release. The main reason was because it was too Northern hemisphere-centric. Seasons in the southern hemisphere are opposite, which Microsoft found to be “not inclusive” of its customers there. Link
Microsoft announced a very quiet end for Windows 11 SE, a special edition of Windows 11 for education. Support will run out on October 26, 2026, which makes Windows 11 SE, version 24H2, the last version of the edition. Customers won’t receive updates, software software, or other forms of support from Microsoft after the termination date. Devices will continue to work, but it is not recommended in most cases to continue using them after support ends. Link
Nvidia will stop supporting Windows 10 with new drivers from October 2026 on. Old drivers will continue to work. Link
Windows 11, 25H2, could remove the full path information from desktop shortcuts, according to a report. This makes it more difficult to check the target of a shortcut. Link
Windows 11 made a big jump in usage share last month according to the stats tracking service Statcounter. It jumped up to 53 percent of the market, while Windows 10 dropped to a still respectable 43 percent. The trend will continue, as more and more systems will get upgraded, provided that they meet the system requirements. Link
Mobile
Aegis Authenticator 3.4.1 adds support for importing data from Proton Authenticator, Proton’s new cross-platform authenticator app. Link
Google lost its appeal against Epic Games and has to allow third-party app marketplaces on Google Play as a consequence. Link
NewPipe, the third-party YouTube frontend with an incredible set of features, supports Android Auto now. Link
Browser
Firefox 141.0.2 fixes several crashes and regressions, some of which affect users on Linux only. If you experienced issues recently, try upgrading to the latest version. Link
Firefox monthly active users fell below the 150 million mark at the end of July. The clear downwards trend continues. Mozilla lost every fourth Firefox users in the past six years. Link
Google released Chrome 139 to the public. The big new feature is the rollout of AI Mode suggestions when you open the address bar or start typing. Also, it fixes several security issues, but no exploits in the wild, according to Google. Link
The content blocker uBlock Origin Lite is now available for Safari on iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. Link
Who is using Google Chrome? Pretty much everyone at this point, at least according to Statcounter. Google’s browser reached a usage share of 69.98% in July 2025, while all other major browsers dropped further. So, making content blockers less powerful has not hurt Google’s dominating position one bit, apparently. Link
Privacy and Security
Captchas (probably) keep more humans out than they do bots. OpenAI’s ChatGPT Agent is capable of passing “I’m not a robot” verifications. Link
Google announced the termination of all goo.gl links some time ago. It has now changed its plans, stating that links that are still in use remain available. Still, with billions of links, there is a good chance that you will encounter a 404 frequently in the near future when clicking on goo.gl links. Link
Millions of Dell PCs with Broadcom chips have a vulnerability that can be exploited to take over tens of millions of users' devices, steal passwords, and access sensitive data, including fingerprint information, according to Cisco Talos. Link
Mozilla send out a warning that a new phishing campaign is targeting Firefox add-on developers specifically. Link
Phishing continues to be a major attack vector on the Internet. A new phishing campaign was discovered recently that abuses legitimate link wrappers by Enterprise-cybersecurity-companies Proofpoint and Intermedia. This increases trust and bypasses some defenses, according to the researchers who discovered the campaign. Link
WhatsApp is launching new tools against messaging scams. These are designed to help people “spot scams and stay safe while messaging”. Meta mentions the following in particular:
New Safety overview when joining group chats, including tips for staying safe.
New protections when engaging with new WhatsApp users. Link
Software and Services
Everything Toolbar 2 is now available. The open source interface for the blazing fast Everything search app is all about usability and tight integration into Windows. Latest versions introduce several new features, including performance improvements when loading thumbnails. option to rearrange filters, or showing all search results at once instead of loading them on demand. Link
ExpanDrive is now free for personal use. It is a cross-platform desktop app to integrate cloud services and remote servers in the operating system’s file manager as drive letters. Link
FastStone Image Viewer 8.1 is now available. Support for native reading and writing WebP images is the main new feature. The menu toolbar displays the current file position and total number of files now as well, plus a few other changes. Link
Superlist, the unofficial successor of Wunderlist, announced pricing changes. Free users are now limited to five private and shared lists instead of unlimited private ones. There are plenty of alternatives, for instance OpenToDoList, which is open source and free. Link
Thunderbird 140.1.1 ESR is now available. It is a minor bug fix release that, among other fixes, fixed a nasty delete button issue that could lead to an attachment being deleted instead of a message. Link
Gaming and Entertainment
Google is testing floating ads on YouTube in an attempt to increase advertising revenue further and drive more users to the pricey YouTube Premium subscriptions. Link
Nintendo announced a price increase for the original Switch console in the United States and Canada. Switch, Switch OLED and Switch Lite price increased between $30 and $50. Link
Panama Playlist is a free site that allegedly shows which songs celebrities play on Spotify. No verification that this is true, but the developer claims that they found a way to identify them. Anyway, if you ever wanted to know about the songs that Sam Altman, JD Vance, or John Coogan listen to, now is your chance to find out. Link
AI
Apple is working on its own chatbot according to reports that could rival the likes of ChatGPT and Gemini. The initial version may be limited though to answering common questions that users may have. Link
ChatGPT removed a controversial feature that allowed search engines to index shared chats with the AI. This led to the leaking of private information and is the main reason why the feature was pulled. Link
Hardware
Other
Did I miss something of importance this week? Let me and everyone else know in the comments!