Tech News Weekly: Issue 150
Off to South Korea and Japan in less than two weeks. Any tips to make the most out of the visits?
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Article(s)
How to download videos from YouTube for offline viewing
Downloading videos has a lot of advantages. You gain permanent access to the downloaded version of the video and can watch it as often as you like, even when you do not have any Internet connectivity.
I’m going on a trip to South Korea and Japan in two weeks, and the more than 10 hour flight will be quite the challenge. Since I can’t sleep well in a crowded airplane, I have to find something to do. Yes, in-flight entertainment is fine, but it is still a long time.
So, downloading some videos to my mobile or laptop may add to the options that I have.
While I prefer to use Internet Download Manager for all my downloads, I recently checked out YouTube Downloader HD as a free alternative. It is a program for Windows, Mac, and Linux devices that has you download videos in a matter of seconds.
Just run the app on your system and paste the URL of the YouTube video into the URL field in the interface. You may also load a text file with video URLs, which may speed things up, if you plan to download more than just one or two videos.
You may pick a quality for the downloaded video and set a save folder on the local system. Hit the download button to start the downloading. You may also use the app to create an audio-only download, but need a separate program for that, which is also free to download and use.
All in all, YouTube Downloader HD is a handy program for desktop users who want to download videos from YouTube. While there are plenty of options, this one worked really well during tests.
News
Operating Systems
If you still run Windows 10, you may find the following open source script useful, as it helps you join the ESU program to get another year of updates. Just run, works also with local accounts (check startup parameters) Link
The latest Windows updates are reportedly causing some SSDs to fail under certain conditions. The SSDs become inaccessible, but may recover after a reboot. Microsoft, according to Phision, maker of NAND controllers, is working on a fix to address the issue. Link
The latest security updates for Windows 11, version 23H2 and earlier, and Windows 10, introduced a bug that could prevent reset and recovery operations. Microsoft released an out-of-band update for affected systems. It is available as an optional update via Windows Update and also as a direct download. Link
Mobile
Google Journal is a new app for Android by Google. It is a journaling app that you may us to “write about your day”, “add photos, places and activities”, and get “personalized writing inspiration”. Link
Google Messages is checking images for nudity to potentially blur them. The feature is enabled for devices with users who are younger than 18 years. May also be enabled for older users, but requires manual activation. Link
Browser
Enhancer for YouTube add-on has apparently been delisted for Firefox. It is unclear why that happened at this point. Link
Firefox 142 includes the new CRLite feature that, according to Mozilla “makes your browsing faster, more private, and more secure”. Mozilla says that “CRLite represents a multiyear effort to deliver this vision with a comprehensive system that operates entirely on-device. This eliminates the need for online revocation checks, which both slow down page loads and leak the sites you’re visiting to third parties on the network.”. Link
Firefox Translate supports the languages Chinese, Japanese, and Korean now on desktop and on mobile. Link
Google released the weekly security update for its Chrome browser. According to Google, only one security issue is fixed by the update. It is rated high and Google does not mention exploits in the wild. Link
Mozilla released Firefox 142 Stable this week. The new version of the open source browser is a usability update for the most part. It adds an interesting feature to tab groups, by keeping the active tab visible during collapsing, and extensions may now use local AI models. Link
Privacy and Security
Microsoft is disabling a a prominent option to disable automatic updates for Microsoft Store applications. Soon, users will only be able to pause updates for up to 5 weeks. Group Policy option continues to work though. Link
NextDNS added an option to bypass age verification requirements on websites that require an ID. Link
Software and Services
LibreOffice 25.8, the free Office suite, is now available. The update introduces a huge number of changes, including several performance improvements and usability improvements for specific apps, such as Calc. Link
Thunderbird 142, the open source email client, is now available. It includes several new features, including a new option to reset the folder order, and for visual signatures when viewing PDF attachments. Link
Windows Snipping Tool is getting a Live Annotation feature. Allows you to draw on screen in real-time. Link
Gaming and Entertainment
A new Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War game is coming out. The fourth game of the series promises a return to the classic gameplay, something which the third game failed miserably at according to reviews. Link
PayPal is blocking payments in most regions and for most currencies on Steam, reportedly. Link
Spotify, the music streaming service, is increasing the price of a subscription outside the United States. The increase depends on the region. In Germany, you pay between €1 and €4 more, depending on the plan. Link
Steam, Valve’s PC gaming platform, is introducing a change to the ratings system. It calculates ratings based on reviews in your own language going forward. If you are from the UK, only UK reviews flow into the final rating of the game. Link
The Nvidia app supports DLSS overrides now and Smooth Motion for RTX 40 GPUs. Link
AI
Adobe announced Acrobat Studio this week. It merges Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Express, and AI agents into a single subscription-based product. A core feature is PDF Spaces, which can be described as work environments to store files and content, and interact with AI assistants. Starts at $24.99 per month and user. Link
Microsoft 365 Copilot had a bug that allowed it to access files without showing in the audit log that Copilot accessed the file. All you had to do was ask Copilot to not include a link to the document or include it as a reference. Link
OpenAI launched ChatGPT Go in India, a budget-friendly plan that costs less than $5 according to the announcement. It is exclusively available for users from India. Link
Other
Eastman Kodak, the photography company, is fighting for survival according to a report by CNN. The company warned in its most recent earnings call that it might not be able to pay “roughly $500 million in upcoming debt obligations”. Link
Did I miss something of importance this week? Let me and everyone else know in the comments!