Tech News Weekly: Issue 53
Good news for Mozilla users, Microsoft pushing AI and a new website by yours truly
News
Operating Systems
Microsoft is pushing more and more AI into its products. Paint, classic Paint, received some love in the past couple of weeks. First by adding background removal and layer support, and now with the integration of image creation options courtesy of DALL-E, which is also used on Bing.
Speaking of apps, Windows Backup is a new app that is rolling out for Windows 10 and 11. The app lacks many features of dedicated backup apps, including custom selection of sources and destinations. Microsoft integrated the app in a way that users and administrators can’t remove it easily from systems.
Windows Server 2012 and 2012 R2 reach end of support on October 10, 2023. Enterprise customers may extend support by up to three years, either by paying Microsoft the full licensing costs per year, or by migrating to Azure.
One of Microsoft’s big hopes for continued growth is Windows Copilot. The AI companion, that is how Microsoft calls it, brings Bing Chat and some other AI services to the Windows 11 desktop. Along with it come third-party ads, which may lead to all kinds of issues, including malvertising campaigns being displayed to Windows users.
Mobile
The Android October 2023 security update is available. It fixes 54 unique vulnerabilities, 5 of them critical and 2 actively exploited (in limited scale according to Google). As always, may take some time before the updates are pushed to all users, as it depends largely on the device manufacturer.
Google plans to launch Android 14 officially today. The company plans to launch its latest Pixel devices, the Pixel 8, Pixel 8 Pro and Pixel Watch 2, on the same day as well.
Vivaldi Technologies released its Vivaldi web browser for iOS devices this week,
Browser
Good news for Firefox users. Mozilla will lift extension restrictions in Firefox for Android this year. The organization has launched the change in Firefox Beta for Android this week and plans to launch it in Firefox Stable in December 2023. Not all desktop extensions may be installed, but developers of extensions are now free to launch their extensions for the Android version of Firefox.
Also new is support for Encrypted Client Hello, which Mozilla integrated into Firefox 118 Stable.
The majority of modern web browsers are affected by an issue that is exploited in the wild. Google, Mozilla and other browser developers have released updates to address the issue in their browsers.
Privacy and Security
With AI taking centerstage, people on the darker sides of the Internet take notice. The responses of AI may include ads and also links, and these may include malware or other unwanted content. In one of the reported cases, Bing Chat returned the wrong homepage for a program. The listed download on the attack site included malware.
Google announced plans to improve Gmail’s protections against spam and malicious emails. The company plans to introduce a new requirement to senders that dispatch more than 5000 messages to Gmail accounts daily. Large senders will also have to make unsubscribing from emails easier for Gmail users.
Software Releases and Updates
A new version of the open source disk encryption tool VeraCrypt is now available. It is the first stable release in 18 months and makes fundamental changes. The main changes are that TrueCrypt, RIPEMD160 and GOST89 volumes are no longer supported. These can’t be mounted or converted using the new version.
Affected users may stay with the previous version (not recommended), or convert volumes before upgrading to VeraCrypt 1.26.7.
Google is retiring Jamboard, a digital whiteboard and all apps associated with it in 2024.
Gaming and Entertainment
Disney is following Netflix’s lead regarding password sharing. Netflix dipped its toes into the water and decided to crack down on account sharing in all markets. Disney plans to test the strategy in Canada in November 2023 and then expand to other markets thereafter. The companies hope that they increase subscribers and reduce the number of viewers that watch but do not pay (fully) for the service.
Speaking of Netflix, the company may increase monthly fees soon, starting in the United States and Canada.
Windows 11 users who install the operating system from scratch on devices may see an offer to play a game while waiting for the installing of the latest updates. The game, Surf, is the same game that Microsoft Edge users may play when they type edge://surf in the browser’s address bar. It may help users pass the time until the installation of updates completes.
Hardware
Other
Meta considers offering subscriptions to access Instagram and Facebook without ads. According to the Wall Street Journal, ad-free tiers could cost $10.50 on desktop and $14 on mobile. This subscription offer may only launch in Europe.
Dropbox is launching a new “Simple” plan that offers 500 gigabyte of storage space for a monthly fee of €5.99. The plan seems to have the same or similar restrictions as Dropbox Free.
Article(s)
I have a new small website, called Chipp.in, where I will publish articles from now on. You can check it out if you want, would love to hear early feedback. Just note that its design is not fully ready yet.
Links
Orwell.org takes changes in privacy, law and civilization and spins them. Plus, it offers facts about them as well.
UltraRAM Demos Prototype Chip, Secures Funding to Validate Commercial Potential