Tech News Weekly: Issue 52
News
Operating Systems
Microsoft released the Moment 4 update for Windows 11 on September 26, 2023 as part of the optional update preview for Windows 11. Check out the article section below to find out why it is not a good idea to install this update at this point.
Major features include Windows Copilot, which is not available in all regions, a redesigned File Explorer, some AI infusions in classic tools such as Paint and the Snipping Tool, or a new Photos experience in the Photos app (only for OneDrive photos).
Other additions include voice access improvements, which works in more locations, introduction of natural languages in the assistive tool Narrator, official passkeys support and presence sensing support.
There is also the option to set taskbar icons to never combine, so that they show up next to each other, even if from the same app.
Business and Enterprise customers may not configure Windows to remove passwords for authentication in favor of passwordless systems, a new Config Refresh option to reset settings in the PolicyCSP every 30 or 90 (default) minutes, and general availability of Windows 365 Boot.
As far as the Windows 11 version 23H2 update, aka the Windows 11 2023 Update, is concerned, it will come out in the fourth quarter, but Microsoft has not revealed details about the release yet.
What the company did reveal, however, was what developers get with the new feature update. In short:
new PC setup experience for Developers.
Dev Home launch, which helps developers set up development environments and manage these.
WinGet Configuration to setup up environments quickly.
Dev Drive, a new REFS powered drive optimized for development.
Microsoft Defender Performance mode that uses asynchronous scanning on Dev Drive volumes.
Smaller changes, such as hiding time and date on the taskbar, ungrouping of apps, or integrated support for more archive formats.
Updates to a variety of tools, including Windows Terminal.
Microsoft is using Windows 11 as an advertising vehicle more and more. If you hate the advertising popups, you may be glad to hear that you can disable those.
Mobile
Google is retiring Google Podcasts in favor of YouTube Music. The company plans to expand the podcasting capabilities of YouTube Music and launch them to users around the world before retiring Podcasts in 2024.
Browser
Mozilla released Firefox 118 and Firefox ESR 115.4 on Tuesday. The main new feature of Firefox 118 is the integrated local translations system. It is finally available, albeit for only a few languages. Still, it offers full privacy, as all translation tasks are carried out on the local device and not on cloud servers. Other changes of note are improved fingerprinting protections and the launch of add-on suggestions in the address bar for users in the United States.
Privacy and Security
Even Nintendo is enabling support for passkeys. Nintendo users may set up passkeys now at the official website to sign-in without using a password. There is no option to get rid of username and password entirely though at this point, which means that it is still important to set a complex and strong password for the account.
Microsoft 365 Basic subscribers will get access to OneDrive advanced security features soon. From October 12, 2023 on, subscribers will have access to the following new features:
unlimited personal vault items (instead of 3).
shared link with passwords and expiration dates.
ransomware detection and alerts.
30 days of file restore.
Is anyone still using LastPass? Old LastPass users who still use a master password of 11 or less characters will be required to update it soon, as the company announced that it will enforce the new minimum character limit of 12 soon.
Bitwarden Free users may now set up WebAuthn, a passwordless two-factor authentication method, to better protect their accounts.
Software Releases and Updates
Samsung Magician 8.0 is now available. The SSD management and optimization tool for Samsung Solid State Drives adds options to view system details and information about software and firmware updates, as well as links to Samsung’s YouTube channel for storage products. Also new is that users from the EU and some other countries will see the terms during installation or update. Here kis the link to the changelog (PDF)
LibreOffice 7.6.2 and 7.5.7 Community have been released to address a security issue in the WebP format.
Thunderbird 115.3.0 is a big fix release that addresses several issues in previous versions of the email client. The team fixed an importing issue that prevented the import of profiles that had a hostname ending with a dot, Oauth2 issues for some users, and a bug that caused some temporary items to remain as leftovers.
Gaming and Entertainment
Google is axing YouTube Premium Lite next month. The cheaper subscription launched in select European countries only. Subscribers could view videos on YouTube without ads, but did not get other Premium features.
Amazon Prime subscribers in the United States and some other countries will soon have to pay more or endure advertisement when watching Prime Video content. Amazon announced the change this week. Starting in early 2024. Amazon Prime Video users will see advertisement, less than on other comparable platforms according to Amazon, if they don’t add the Ad-free addition for $2.99 to their plan.
The Windows 11 Moment 4 update includes some features that Microsoft did not mention during the big reveal. One of these is Instant Games, which promises to speed up the ability to play Microsoft Store games by making these available for play immediately. Not much to go by, as Microsoft did not reveal specifics on supported games or limitations.
Hardware
The European Union fined Intel €376.36 (about $400 million USD) “for anticompetitive practices in the market for computer chips” between 2002 and 2007.
Other
Amazon “will invest up to $4 billion” in Anthropic. Anthropic is best known for AI products and research, include Claude AI, which is available as a beta.
Kagi Search, an independent search engine, changed the number of monthly searches to unlimited for its Professional plan. Previously, users of Kagi Search could only use a fixed number of searches per month, even with paid accounts. One of my main issues with the service back when I mentioned it in 2022 was that searches were limited.
The interesting question is, how many users are willed to pay $9 per month, if paid yearly, to use a search engine that is free of ads, operates its own engine, does not use telemetry, and includes features such as the option to block sites from the results?
Article(s)
A closer look at Firefox’s native translate feature
Mozilla launched Firefox 118 on Tuesday and with it the native translations feature. This move is a big step for Mozilla and Firefox users, who often looked with a bit of jealousy at the likes of Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge when it came to translate functionality.
These browsers, as well as other Chromium-based browsers, including Brave and Vivaldi, come with integrated translate functionality.
Mozilla Firefox users could install browser extensions to add the feature, but not all did. The introduction of native translations in Firefox is a milestone for two reasons: first, because it is now integrated natively in Firefox, which means that it is available for all users right away. Second, because it is better for user privacy and usability. Why? Because it does not need to make connections to cloud servers to get text translated. All of that happens locally in the browser. No server connections means improved privacy, as no one gets to know the text that is being translated.
Firefox’s translate feature works like all the others for the most part, but there are a few differences. The browser displays a “translate” option when a foreign language page is opened, provided that Firefox’s translations supports the language.
Users may configure Firefox to always translate particular languages, to never translate them, or to never translate text on a specific website.
Firefox’s translation feature uses language packs; these need to be downloaded at the beginning of the very first translation. It should not slow down the first translation by much and won’t affect future tasks in which the language is involved.
You interact with the feature by clicking on the translate icon in the Firefox address bar. There you find options to adjust the source and target language, and to customize the translations feature with a click on the cogwheel icon.
Firefox Translations uses machine translations, which means that it is good enough usually, but lacks when compared to human translations.
The main downside right now is that it supports just a few languages. While these include popular languages such as English, French and Spanish, it lacks support for languages from Asia and many other regions of the world.
Still, for those Firefox users who have the languages that they use supported, it is a major change. Mozilla plans to introduce support for additional languages in the future, but no schedule yet on that as far as I know.
Don’t install the Windows 11 2023 Update / Moment 4 update early or even immediately
Microsoft released a preview update yesterday for its Windows 11 operating system. The changes will be released officially on the second Tuesday of October as part of the security update of the month.
Several websites have published instructions on getting the update early. All suggested to join the Windows Insider program to do so.
While it may be tempting to be among the first to use the new features and changes, there are downsides that users need to be aware of. These downsides outweigh the benefits in most cases.
Generally speaking, it is advised to run Insider builds on a separate machine, either as a virtual machine or, if available, a standalone PC that is used solely for that purpose.
The main reason for that is that Insider builds and also preview updates should be considered unstable. They may work perfectly fine on devices, but they may also cause all kinds of issues.
It is true that regular Windows updates may also cause problems, which is why I suggest to postpone the installation to wait and see if major issues are experienced. Another good option is to create a system backup prior to installing updates, as this gives you fallback options independent from what Microsoft is offering.
One disadvantage of preview and Insider builds is that they don’t go through extended testing. Microsoft is pushing them to customer devices who signed-up for them and is using the data provided by these to address issues. While Microsoft does some internal testing, the company is no longer making use of extensive in-house testing with dedicated departments.
A stable update release is being tested by millions of customers in the first days. These report issues, and any major issue is quickly making the rounds on news sites and support forums.
In short: not-installing preview updates or Insider updates, and waiting a period before installing new Windows updates, reduces the chance of things going wrong.
There are users who never ran into problems running beta software, such as Firefox Nightly, Chrome Canary or the latest development build of Windows.
Links
Japan pharma startup developing world-first drug to grow new teeth
No limit to maximal lifespan in humans: how to beat a 122-year-old record