Weekly Tech Insights: Issue 18
Table of Contents
News
Windows
Linux / FreeBSD
Mobile
Browser
Privacy and Security
Software Updates
Gaming
Other
Articles
Using system-wide live captions in Windows 11 version 22H2
Windows 7’s and 8.1’s end of support is a massive chance for underdogs like Mozilla
Software review of the Week
TinyNvidiaUpdateChecker
Links
News
Windows
Future versions of Windows 11 will make it easier to run repair installs using Windows Update. It is a brand new feature that is not fully active in the latest Insider builds. It appears that it requires no installation media for the repair.
Linux / FreeBSD
Ubuntu Pro, a subscription-based version of Ubuntu with 10 years of support is now available. It is free for up to 5 devices but requires an Ubuntu account.
Mobile
Wired review of the new Samsung Galaxy A14 5G Android phone. It is a $200 phone, and the reviewer thinks that it offers “phenomenal value”., citing “good performance, a “nice screen”, “two-day battery life” and a “solid camera” as the main plus points. It gets four years of security updates, and the only negatives are the missing IP rating and that the mono speakers are not “great”.
Android 14 will block older applications from running. Google plans to introduce the change with this year’s release of Android 14. Any app that targets Android 6 or older APIs will be blocked from installation on Android 14 devices. The limit may be raised to Android 11 in future updates.
Browser
Brave is testing a Quick Commands feature in the browser that activates with Ctrl-Space. It is necessary to enable the experimental flag first. The feature is also available in other Chromium-based web browsers.
Google released a point release for Chrome 109 that fixed six security issues. Most Chromium-based browsers were also updated this week to address the shared security issues.
Google Chrome’s first Early Stable channel build will become available later today. The new build sits between Stable and Beta, and should be considered a beta release by users. Google uses feedback and data from the early stable channel to address issues that it did not notice during development. It is still unclear if and how users can prevent the installation of the early update on their devices.
Privacy and Security
PC Magazine article on smart ovens that communicate with Chinese or Russian websites regularly. According to the report, some devices of AEG, a German company, use the connections to check for Internet connectivity if the oven’s are connected to the wireless network. The endpoints in question are the homepages of Yandex, Baidu and Google.
Users of the Bitwarden password manager may want to increase the iterations to the new default 600000. New accounts do benefit from the iteration default automatically. Old accounts need to increase the number manually. You can check out Ashwin’s guide on Ghacks on how to do that.
Excel add-ins from the Internet will be blocked automatically from March 2023 onward. Malware that exploits the format has been on the rise in recent years, and Microsoft hopes that the protective feature will put an end to that.
The proposed EU chat control law has a side-effect, according to Mullvad VPN. It will ban open source operating systems such as Linux and software distribution platforms such as F-Droid.
Anker Admits Eufy Cameras Did Not Offer End-to-End Encryption as Promised, Pledges to Do Better
Google Fi confirms that hackers accessed data of some customers.
Software Updates
Everything Toolbar, an open source app that enables searches using the blazing fast search tool Everything, is now fully compatible with Windows 11.
Mouse Jump is a new tools for Microsoft PowerToys that is based on the open source FancyMouse. It is a simple tool that to move the mouse to a specific position on the screen using a keyboard shortcut or a mapped mouse button.
Skype 8.93 is a big update for all platforms. The desktop and web versions of Skype get universal translator support, which translates languages automatically, theme customizations, and Caller ID management in the settings. On mobile, Skype is also getting Universal Translator support, theme customizations and caller ID settings, but also improved contact adding using QR codes.
Thunderbird 102.7.1 is a security and bug fix update. It provides a fix for the Microsoft 365 account authentication issue and some other bug fixes. A follow-up fix for the authentication issue appears to be in the release pipeline already.
What’s New In Excel (January 2023) highlights improvements for Microsoft Excel. This month shows just three improvements for Windows and Mac:
Automate your tasks with the Power Automate tab
Record worksheet actions using Office Scripts (Insiders)
Check your formula with value preview tooltips (Insiders)
Gaming
DLC for your Games is a new experimental feature on Steam that aims to improve the discoverability of DLCs for games in a Steam library. As is the case with experiments, these are only available on the Steam website and not in the Steam client.
Other
The Calculator Drawer is a new Internet Archive project. It is a collection of emulated calculators “providing reference to how they worked and what the often unique interfaces would consist of”. The 14 calculators have been manufactured by HP and Texas Instruments for the most part. Some manuals are also provided.
Articles
Using system-wide live captions in Windows 11 version 22H2
Microsoft introduced support for system-wide live captions in Windows 11 version 22H2, also known as the Windows 11 2022 Update. The feature is compatible with any program that streams video or audio content, and any input from the user’s microphone.
It works in any modern web browser and on any streaming site on the Internet, in local media players and other programs.
The only caveat, for now, is that it is limited to English (United States). Live caption requires a language file that needs to be downloaded on first activation of the feature.
Press Ctrl-Windows-L to enable live captions on Windows 11. A prompt is displayed that gives you the option to download the required language file or cancel activation.
Voice date is processed locally only and not shared according to Microsoft. The download should be quick and live captions is ready from that moment on.
The initial interface is an overlay that may be moved around on the screen. A click on Settings > Position displays two additional locations for the captions interface: at the top or bottom of the screen in fixed positions.
The feature works surprisingly well most of the time. Once a media stream starts to play, captions should become available shortly thereafter. There may be a small delay, and sometimes, it appears, that the stream is not picked up by the feature. There may also be a short delay, which becomes obvious when the media stream itself supports captions as well.
As far as options are concerned, there are only a few. There is an option to turn on the profanity filter and an option to change the captions style, which is black on white text by default.
The last option that is available enables captions for connected microphones.
All in all, live captions is a welcome accessibility feature as it unlocks captions for media streams that do not come with subtitles or captions support. More languages will surely be added in future updates.
Windows 7’s and 8.1’s end of support is a massive chance for underdogs like Mozilla
Last month, Microsoft ended support for its Windows 7 and 8.1 operating systems officially. Windows 7 was kept alive by the company for business and Enterprise customers for the past three years through an Extended Security Updates program, but that ran out on the same day as support for Windows 8.1 ended.
Google and Microsoft announced that their browsers, Chrome and Edge, would not support both operating systems after support end. Chrome 109 and Edge 109, released in January 2023, are the last supported versions. The next stable versions, scheduled for a release in early February 2023, won’t support Windows 7 or 8.1 anymore.
Other browser makers have not made up their minds yet. Mozilla started a topic on the official bug tracking website three years ago, but the organization is undecided up to this day.
Statcounter, a usage tracking service, has Windows 7 listed with 9.62% of the Windows market. Windows 8.1 is listed with 2.31% and Windows 8 with 0.62%. Chrome and Microsoft Edge lost those 12% with the announcement. While Chrome and Edge 109 will continue to work after the two companies end support, they won’t receive security or feature updates anymore.
Mozilla, and other smaller makers of browsers, could try and capture that audience by extending support for Windows 7 and 8.1. The move would reduce Chrome’s dominance in the browser market and improve the standing of smaller browsers.
While support can’t be guaranteed forever, companies may want to consider extending support until at least 2024. Mozilla could do this by ensuring that the next major Firefox ESR release, which will be released in the middle of 2023, will support the two out-of-support operating systems. This would ensure support until mid 2024 and give users and companies a valid reason to keep on using Firefox or migrate from Chrome or Edge to the browser.
It is unclear whether smaller Chromium-based browser makers, such as Opera, Vivaldi or Brave, will have the means to continue support for Windows 7 or 8.1. They too could benefit from Google’s and Microsoft’s decision to end support early.
There are disadvantages to continue support for an operating system that is no longer supported officially. Focusing on Windows 10 and newer could improve overall security of a browser, support requests would drop, code created specifically for older browsers could be removed, and development would be more streamlined because of that.
One has to weight the advantages of ending support against the benefits of continuing support. In best case, millions of Chrome and Edge users, who still use Windows 7 and 8.1, would migrate once they realize that the browsers are not secure anymore. It would certainly require promotions to inform these users about the fact.
Software review of the Week
TinyNvidiaUpdateChecker
Nvidia graphics cards come with massive driver by default that includes components that many users may not require.
TinyNvidiaUpdateChecker is an open source tool that checks for Nvidia driver updates and extracts only the main driver component when updates are found. This driver is then installed to update the existing driver without installing other components that may not be needed.
The application can be configured to run on user sign-in to the system, or manually. The app uses NVIDIA’s official API to download the latest driver.
TinyNvidiaUpdateChecker requires Windows 10 or higher and the Microsoft .NET Desktop Runtime 7 x86.
It is a simple tool, but mighty useful for Nvidia owners who do not require GeForce Experience and other components that Nvidia installs by default.
Links
UK scientists discover method to reduce steelmaking’s CO2 emissions by 90%