Microsoft calls the new thing "Account Manager." In a nutshell, it is a flyout with your existing subscriptions, a Microsoft 365 upsell, and a few account-related notifications, like a prompt to add a backup phone number or enable OneDrive backups. There is now also a link to your Microsoft Account settings.

Do you know what is not there? The Sign Out and Switch User button. Signing out of your profile now requires opening a submenu hidden behind a three-dot button. Apparently, Microsoft thinks showing your Xbox Game Pass subscription expiration date and the amount of OneDrive storage is more important than the "Sign Out" button. Okay.

Here is how Microsoft describes the change:

This update starts the roll out of the new account manager on Start menu. When you sign in with a Microsoft account, the new design gives you a quick glanceable view of your account benefits and makes it easy to manage account settings.

The "Lock" button also has a new home—it now sits in the power menu alongside "Shut down," "Restart," and "Sleep" options.

The new "Account Manager" offers no apparent value or practicality besides making things less convenient. Subscription data and account notifications are already available on the Settings app's home page, along with various recommendations, Copilot ads, and more.

And yes, build 22635.3500 has a new banner for that section as well—there is now a Game Pass "recommendation" politely suggesting that you subscribe. But if you are already a Game Pass member, it will offer you some games from the catalog. Because "discovering your next favorite game" is what people want when opening the Settings app.

Source

Changes and Improvements gradually being rolled out to the Beta Channel with toggle on*

[Start menu]

 

• This update starts the roll out of the new account manager on Start menu. When you sign in with a Microsoft account, the new design gives you a quick glanceable view of your account benefits and makes it easy to manage account settings.

 

New account manager experience on the Start menu showing

account settings and an action needed that needs to be taken

to secure your Microsoft account.

 

[Windows Share]

 

• If your Microsoft account uses a Gmail address, you can now send email to yourself from Windows share window and receive it in your Gmail account.

[Settings]

 

• To ensure you don’t lose access to your Microsoft account, we’re beginning to roll out a new banner with a “Add now” button under Settings > Account for adding a recovery email address if you haven’t added one for your Microsoft account yet. This will only show if you are signed in with a Microsoft account.
• We are introducing a new Game Pass recommendation card on the Settings homepage. The Game Pass recommendation card on Settings Homepage will be shown to you if you actively play games on your PC. As a reminder – the Settings homepage will be shown only on the Home and Pro editions of Windows 11 and if you’re signed into Windows with your Microsoft account.

 

New Game Pass recommendation card highlighted in a red box on the Settings homepage.

New features rolling out for everyone in the Beta Channel

Widgets Board Improvements

 

We are introducing a new navigation bar on the left allowing you to switch between a dedicated widgets dashboard and other integrated dashboards like Discover. As part of this change, we are introducing the ability for developers to send notifications to the taskbar button with their custom dashboards for the Widgets board. Developers can check out this documentation on how to implement this capability with their Widgets dashboards. To manage notifications from multiple dashboards, Widgets is also providing more granular control over what content shows on the Widgets button on the taskbar. You can go to Widgets Settings > Notifications and enable or disable taskbar notifications from individual dashboards. NOTE: These changes are only initially available to Windows Insiders in the European Economic Area (EEA).

 

We’ve added a new Navigation Pane on the left that allows you to switch to My Widgets dashboard.

 

A full widgets only experience from your favorite apps and services.

 

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Desktop Environment > Widgets.

Changes and Improvements gradually being rolled out to everyone in the Beta Channel

[Widgets]

 

• We are making some improvements to the Widgets button on the taskbar so that the icons on the taskbar are clearer and we are rolling out a larger set of animated icons too.

 

Known issues

 

[General]

 

• We are investigating an issue where Internet Information Services (IIS) and Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) may not work after installing this update.
• [NEW] We’re working on the fix for an issue causing Settings to crash when copying text in certain cases. As a workaround, please use the extract text option in Snipping Tool for the time being if you are impacted.

 

[Copilot in Windows*]

 

Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel who have the updated Copilot in Windows experience that introduces the ability for Copilot to act like a normal application window may see the following known issues:

 

• [NEW] We are aware of reports by Insiders in the Canary, Dev, and Beta Channels that Copilot is auto-launching unexpectedly after restarting their PCs. We hope to have a fix for this issue soon and is unrelated to the auto-launching experience we tried out with Insiders in the Canary and Dev Channels in early February which we stopped rolling out in March.
• Voice access does not work reliably with the updated Copilot in Windows experience that introduces the ability for Copilot to act like a normal application.
• Using Windows Ink to write in Copilot will not work with the updated Copilot in Windows experience.

 

[Widgets]

 

• [NEW] We’re working on the fix for an issue causing Widgets to crash for some Insiders when interacting with the Widgets board.

 

Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel who have the new position for the Widgets entry-point on left-aligned taskbars may see the following known issues:

 

• Swipe invocation for Widgets may not work if taskbar is center-aligned instead of left-aligned.
• Unpinning Widgets from the taskbar may not work if taskbar is center-aligned instead of left-aligned.
• The Widgets board is incorrectly positioned when Copilot is in side-by-side mode.
• Turning on/off Widgets in taskbar settings may refresh the taskbar.

You can view the official blog post here on Microsoft's website.

Source

This is the first Canary Channel release we have seen in the last several weeks that was not joined by a preview build release for Dev Channel users with the same release notes. Microsoft stated:

With the Canary Channel moving to a higher build number, the window closes on being able to switch to the Dev Channel without doing a clean-install of Windows. If you haven’t switched channels yet, you can still do so BEFORE taking Build 26200.

Here is the change log:

Changes and Improvements

 

[General]

 

[REMINDER] As we’ve been mentioning previously that would happen, the build watermark at the lower right-hand corner of the desktop has returned.

 

[Widgets]

 

We are also making some improvements to the Widgets button on the taskbar so that the icons on the taskbar are clearer and we are rolling out a larger set of animated icons too.

 

As part of the Widgets board improvements that we began rolling out with Build 26090 a few weeks ago (which are now also rolling out to Insiders in the Dev Channel), we are introducing the ability for developers to send notifications to the taskbar button with their custom dashboards for the Widgets board. Developers can check out this documentation on how to implement this capability with their Widgets dashboards. To manage notifications from multiple dashboards, Widgets is also providing more granular control over what content shows on the Widgets button on the taskbar. You can go to Widgets Settings > Notifications and enable or disable taskbar notifications from individual dashboards. NOTE: These changes are only initially available to Windows Insiders in the European Economic Area (EEA).

 

[Taskbar & System Tray]

 

After trying out a different design for the energy saver icon in system tray a few months ago for PCs that are plugged in and do not have batteries (such as desktop PCs), we reverted the design back to the leaf icon a few builds ago. (This change is also present in Build 26100.)

 

Energy saver icon shown on the system tray for PCs that do not have batteries.

 

Fixes for known issues

 

[Taskbar & System Tray]

 

• Fixed an issue that caused a dead zone you couldn’t click inside of next to the notification center.
• Fixed an issue that was causing the page icons in quick settings to not work in secondary settings pages.
• Fixed an issue where keyboard focus wasn’t shifting to the top item of the new page correctly after switching pages in quick settings.

 

[Input]

 

• Fixed a tabtip.exe crash, which could impact the ability to input text.

 

[Windowing]

 

• Fixed an issue which could cause RemoteApp windows to get cut off when using 200% scaling.

 

[Multiple Desktops]

 

• Fixed an issue where the option to set a different wallpaper on each desktop wasn’t working.

 

Known issues

 

[General]

 

• [IMPORTANT NOTE] We are investigating reports that some Windows Insiders in the Canary and Dev Channels are stuck on Build 26040 or Build 23620. The investigation is ongoing, however if you are impacted by this and really want to get onto the latest build in the Canary or Dev Channel today – you can download the latest ISO here and do a clean install and opt your device back into flighting in the Canary or Dev Channels.

 

[Copilot in Windows]

 

• [NEW] We are aware of reports by Insiders in the Canary, Dev, and Beta Channels that Copilot is auto-launching unexpectedly after restarting their PCs. We hope to have a fix for this issue soon and is unrelated to the auto-launching experience we tried out with Insiders in the Canary and Dev Channels in early February which we stopped rolling out in March.
• Voice access does not work reliably with the updated Copilot in Windows experience that introduces the ability for Copilot to act like a normal application.
• Using Windows Ink to write in Copilot will not work with the updated Copilot in Windows experience that introduces the ability for Copilot to act like a normal application window.

You can check out the full blog post here.

Source

What you need to know

• A preview version of Vivaldi optimized for Windows 11 on Arm is now available.
• The build is in early testing and may still have some serious issues, but its existence indicates that Vivaldi is working on a version of its browser optimized for Arm processors.
• Several other browsers have been optimized for Windows 11 on Arm recently, including Google Chrome and Brave.
• Windows 11 on Arm is expected to see a surge in interest in 2024, thanks in large part to the upcoming launch of Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite processor later this year.

Those with a PC powered by an Arm processor will soon have another browser to use. Vivaldi announced a preview version of its browser optimized for ARM64 architecture earlier this week. Once stable and generally available, the optimized version of Vivaldi will deliver better performance and efficiency on devices like upcoming Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6.

Vivaldi shared a few details about the Arm version of its browser:

"As an extra bonus we also include Windows arm64 “architecture preview” packages for those of you with suitable hardware. These builds are not yet part of our automated test system and have only been lightly tested on one piece of hardware. Serious issues may exist and should be expected. Nonetheless, any testing and feedback would be greatly appreciated! 😉"

As the Arm version of Vivaldi is in its early days, you can expect bugs and other issues. But by the time Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite processors start shipping in PCs, you may have a stable version of Vivaldi as an optimized option.

Browsing on Windows 11 on Arm

Microsoft Edge is one of many browsers that have been optimized for Windows 11 on Arm recently.

(Image credit: Future)

The number of options for web browsing on Windows on Arm continues to grow. While not an exhaustive list, a website called ArmRepo lists programs that have been optimized for ARM architecture. Within the web browsers section of that site you see big names, including Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Brave, and Chromium. Now, there's a preview version of Vivaldi to go along with those other browsers.

Windows 11 on Arm PCs can run non-native apps, but performance and efficiency are lower than running native apps. That may not be as much of an issue for systems running Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite processors. Qualcomm claimed that emulated games will run "just fine" on Snapdragon X Elite-powered PCs. Presumably, non-native browsers would also work well. But native performance is best, so Vivaldi hopping on board is a welcome addition.

Snapdragon X Elite processors have been the talk of the computing world for months. If you go back to before we knew the official name of the processors, it's actually been years since the hype began for Qualcomm's new chips. Benchmarks shared by Qualcomm show the Snapdragon X Elite competing with Apple silicon. Qualcomm also appears confident that its new processors will compete with Intel Core Ultra CPUs.

We won't have to wait long to see the Snapdragon X Elite in action. Several PC manufacturers will release computers powered by the chips in 2024, including Microsoft's Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 reportedly set to run processors based on the Snapdragon X Elite.

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• CVE-2024-29986
• CVE-2024-29987
• CVE-2024-29991

It also has some other security updates from the Chromium project.

Edge 124 also has quite a few new features for business users, along with three new policies. Here is the change log

Version 124.0.2478.51: April 18, 2024

 

Dev Channel updates

 

The following Dev channel updates preceded this Stable channel release. The following Dev notes provide detailed information about the changes in each release.

 

• Dev Channel update to 124.0.2438.2 is live. - Microsoft Community Hub
• Dev Channel update to 124.0.2450.2 is live. - Microsoft Community Hub
• Dev Channel update to 124.0.2464.2 is live. - Microsoft Community Hub
• Dev Channel update to 124.0.2478.6 is live. - Microsoft Community Hub

 

Feature updates

 

• Email notifications for extension requests in the Microsoft Edge management service. The Microsoft Edge management service provides admins with the ability to receive email notifications for extensions that their users requested. This notification helps inform them promptly of any new feedback. Note: This experience is in public preview and can be accessed by opting in to targeted release in the Microsoft 365 admin center.
• Enterprise secure AI controls in the Microsoft Edge management service. The Microsoft Edge management service now provides a new dedicated space for admins to manage all AI-related policies in the Edge browser. This helps enhance security and productivity for managed users and devices.
• Customize organizational branding using the Microsoft Edge management service. Admins can customize their organization's branding assets onto Edge for Business through the Microsoft Edge management service. This branding can help users signed in with a Microsoft Entra ID more easily differentiate between multiple profiles and browser windows through visual cues on the profile pill, profile flyout, and Edge for Business taskbar icon. This Microsoft Edge management service feature gives admins an enhanced experience to configure, preview, and customize how Edge for Business shows the following organization brand assets:
  • Organization name
  • Accent color
  • Organization logo
  • Edge for Business taskbar icon overlay

 

Note: This experience is in public preview and can be accessed by opting in to targeted release in the Microsoft 365 admin center. For more information, see Microsoft Edge for Business and Organization branding.

 

• Automatic profile switching controls for Microsoft Edge for Business in the Microsoft Edge management service. The Microsoft Edge management service provides admins with the ability to configure settings for automatic profile switching in the Microsoft Edge browser. This can help enforce context separation between their end users' work and personal browsing.
• Updated Edge Profile account re-authentication popup when Browser to Web Single-Sign-On (SSO) fails. Edge provides a browser to Web single sign-on (SSO) capability that lets a user sign in to their Edge Profile with a web account first and then automatically sign them into Microsoft first party websites. This is done by saving cached credentials. This approach works until there's an authentication challenge to the cached credentials. A typical scenario is when a user changes their password on a different device. The cached credentials on the current device become outdated and SSO fails. Edge detects this failure and shows a re-authentication popup that prompts the user to update their cached credentials on the current device.
• Removal of Web SQL - Web SQL support is completely removed. In prior releases, Web SQL support was disabled by default but could be re-enabled via the WebSQLAccess policy. After this change, there is no longer any mechanism to enable Web SQL support. This change is happening in the Chromium project, on which Microsoft Edge is based. For more information, see Intent to Deprecate and Remove Web SQL.
• Cross-device Search Query History suggestions. The existing Search Query suggestions have been enhanced with cross-device query history in both Recent Searches and browser searches for enterprise users who have enabled Edge Sync across devices/browsers. From now on Edge will provide you with the relevant query history suggestions that you have previously searched before no matter where you did it. You can always trust Edge to help you quickly re-find the information that you accessed before.
• Extending support for viewing MIP Protected PDF Files to different sovereignties (including GCCH). Sovereign cloud customers (including GCCH) will be able to open MIP protected PDF content in Microsoft Edge. This change will be available in the Microsoft Edge built-in PDF reader powered by Adobe Acrobat and the legacy Microsoft Edge PDF engine. Note: This feature is an experiment. Admins can use the feature flag "msMIPSovereigntyPdfViewSupport" to test this feature.
• Copilot browser Context Policies. To summarize and answer questions based on browser context in Microsoft Edge, Copilot needs to be able to access the browser context. We're providing two new policies to offer more flexibility for admins to customize Edge browser context access across Copilot chats in Edge sidebar.
  • CopilotPageContext - Control Copilot access to browser context for Microsoft Entra ID profiles.
  • CopilotCDPPageContext - Control Copilot with Commercial Data Protection access to browser context for Microsoft Entra ID profiles.
  • The DiscoverPageContextEnabled policy is deprecated in Edge version 124 and will be obsoleted in Edge version 127.
• Updated profile management and customization controls. Enhancing the profile management and customization experience through surfaced profile controls and an expanded range of default avatars. With these updates, users can effortlessly tailor their profiles to their preferences and select from a broader collection of profile avatars.
• Microsoft Edge migrates the updates experience into Browser Essentials. Notifications on available Edge Updates will come from Browser Essentials instead of the Settings page for better visibility and experience.
• Desktop Shortcut for New Enterprise Devices. New Microsoft Enterprise devices, including Windows Enterprise SKUs, Windows Server SKUs and any domain-joined or AAD-joined devices, running through Windows Out of Box Experience (OOBE) for the first time will see a Microsoft Edge desktop shortcut automatically created. This desktop shortcut provides users with an alternative way to access their Microsoft Edge browser without needing to manually pin and configure their set-up.
• Updated profile options in new profile experience. Many users unintentionally create empty profiles, cluttering their workspace and impeding their browsing experience. To reduce clutter and the likelihood of profile churn, updated First Run Experience (FRE) string options encourage users to sign-in and meaningfully create profiles for an improved browsing experience, or easily cancel unintentional creation.
• Updated default profile pill for EDU users in Edge for Business. To improve the applicability of the current Edge for Business default visuals, users signed in with an EDU account will see the default profile pill label updated to "School".

 

Policy updates

 

New policies

 

• CopilotCDPPageContext - Control Copilot with Commercial Data Protection access to browser context for Microsoft Entra ID profiles
• CopilotPageContext - Control Copilot access to browser context for Microsoft Entra ID profiles
• MutationEventsEnabled - Enable deprecated/removed Mutation Events

 

Deprecated policies

 

• DiscoverPageContextEnabled - Enable Discover access to page contents for AAD profiles (deprecated)

 

Obsoleted policies

 

• ThrottleNonVisibleCrossOriginIframesAllowed - Allows enabling throttling of non-visible, cross-origin iframes (obsolete)
• WebSQLAccess - Force WebSQL to be enabled (obsolete)

You can update Microsoft Edge to the latest 124 version by heading to edge://settings/help. Alternatively, keep using it as usual, and the browser will update itself automatically upon the next restart.

Source

In a post on the Microsoft 365 Insider blog, the company said this new feature, which was released as a public preview earlier in 2024, is now officially available for Microsoft 365 Family and Work accounts. The feature lets people who are editing videos remove silent portions of audio tracks with the use of AI programming.

Clipchamp users can simply click on the AI suggestions button that's found on the app's toolbar and then review the silent parts of a video that it detects. The user can then delete those silent parts, either separately or all of them at once.

Microsoft also mentioned some other smaller updates that are now a part of Clipchamp. They include a way to rotate any media item in the editing tool. Users can now also edit multiple items at once:

To give it a try, hold down Shift key to select multiple items on the stage and move them around, as well as resize and rotate until your heart’s content.

The Shift key can also be used to select multiple track items at once and add them all to the timeline at once.

Finally, anyone with a personal account can now get some new copyright-free audio tracks to put in videos:

You can now find over 200 new exclusive stock audio tracks, plus intro and outro, 30-second and 60-second versions to use as background music in your next video.

Keep in mind that Microsoft also offers a Clipchamp Premium subscription for $11.99 a month or $119.99 a year. It adds additional features like 4K video resolution support, more filters and effects, and backup features.

Source

 

New! This update starts the rolls out of account-related notifications for Microsoft accounts in Settings > Home. A Microsoft account connects Windows to your Microsoft apps. The account also backs up all your data and helps you to manage your subscriptions. You can also add extra security steps to keep you from being locked out of your account. This feature displays notifications across the Start menu and Settings.

The change seems to be rolling out gradually, which means not everyone on build 19045.4353 has it yet. However, you can force-enable it using a command for the ViVeTool app. Here is what the new banner looks like:

If you do not want the Settings app to nag you with Microsoft Account prompts, go to Privacy > General and toggle off the "Show me suggested content in the Settings app" option. Also, you can also simply click the close button next to the "Sign in now" button to get rid of the banner.

Here is how to turn the new banner on in case you want to witness it yourself on build 19045.4353:

1. Download ViveTool from GitHub and unpack the files in a convenient and easy-to-find folder.
2. Press Win + R, type cmd, and press Ctrl + Shift + Enter to open Command Prompt as Administrator.
3. Navigate to the folder containing the ViveTool files with the CD command. For example, if you have placed ViveTool in C:\Vive, type CD C:\Vive.
4. Type vivetool /enable /id:42563876 and press Enter. In order to turn off the new banners in the Settings app, use vivetool /disable /id:42563876. Credit for the ID goes to Albacore on X.
5. Restart your computer.

Microsoft's ongoing fight against local accounts in consumer versions of Windows annoys pretty much everyone, including Elon Musk. However, Windows 10 still offers a relatively easy way to bypass the MSA requirement during the initial setup. Windows 11, on the other hand, won't let you use a local profile unless you know a magic command (oobe\bypassnro).

Source

Added Features:

 

• Introduced a new button to the web capture toolbar.

 

Improved Reliability:

 

• Resolved a problem that was causing the browser to crash when the standalone sidebar was closed.
• Fixed a browser crash on PDF.
• Resolved a problem that caused browser to crash upon completing the First Run Experience (FRE).
• Android: Resolved a problem where a crash would occur within 10 seconds of logging into AAD without any further action on android.
• Linux: Resolved a bug that caused browser to crash on Linux when the “cancel” button was clicked in the Account Transfer confirmation dialog.

 

Changed Behavior:

 

• Resolved an issue where the titles of tab groups were incorrectly displayed in bold.
• Resolved a problem ensuring the Tab Search content panel has rounded edges.
• Resolved an issue that involved removing the red dot from omnibox notifications.
• Resolved a problem related to the switch button’s appearance when using Dark mode.
• Resolved a display issue that prevented the Copilot pane and applications from aligning correctly on the screen in the docked state following text scaling adjustments.
• Resolved a problem that made it challenging to activate the Copilot toolbar on tablet devices.
• Resolved a problem where the back button was missing from the header following a new search.
• iOS: Resolved an issue where the “Share” button was unresponsive and prevented successful sharing on iOS.
• Android: Resolved an issue where the translation bar remained visible and could not be closed by clicking the “x” on android.

You can download Microsoft Edge 125 Dev from the official Edge Insider website. The preview program is publicly available on Windows 10, Windows 11, macOS, Android, and Linux. To update the existing installation, go to edge://settings/help.

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The latest update delivers several useful features for maintaining your computer. For example, WinToys can now combat annoying processes that constantly wake up your PC from sleep mode. There is also a shortcut to memory diagnostic, the ability to toggle automatic app updates and much more.

Here is the complete changelog for version 1.3:

• added Memory diagnostic feature under Health page
• added Sleeping pill feature under Health page
• added App updates option under Health page
• added Windowed mode optimizations option under Boost/Gaming settings
• added Watermark option under Tweaks/Desktop
• added two new languages: Italian and Polish
• improved the Junk Cleaner by:
  • adding missing files from the Disk Cleanup tool (error reports and dump files)
  • adding the ability to display and select browsers individually
  • adding file size and file count for selected items
• the Reboot button is now hidden instead of disabled when a reboot is not required
• improved layout alignment on the Home page and added two missing translations
• updated some border colors to be more visible on dark theme
• changed the benchmark button’s icon and the tooltip translation
• changed the progress ring to a progress bar for apps and services changes
• removed process tracing for win32 apps as it was unreliable (the progress will only be displayed for store apps)
• when an app or a service is changing, now the context menu will not be displayed since the options are disabled
• changed the service context menu so that when it can’t be stopped, the start mode is disabled

And here are other fixes:

• fixed an issue where closing the app would throw an exception (the most occuring exception)
• handled startup crash when certain date information was unavailable on Umm Al-Qura calendars
• fixed an issue where extracting spotlight images to a deleted destintion folder would not work
• fixed an issue where uninstalling an app will break updating the list of apps in realtime
• fixed not being able to open the context menu of a selected service
• fixed an issue where hibernation file size percent was displayed as 20% when the default was actually 40%
• handled exceptions when loading apps and startup apps
• handled exception when stopping an unexisting service
• handled exception when loading a benchmark file that’s in use
• handled exception when deleting an unexisting file of a startup app
• handled exception of missing service’s translations for Auto and System start modes
• handled exception when turning off Widgets while the registry key is missing
• handled exception when trying to kill a browser for cache cleaning
• handled exception when counting system restore points

You can download WinToys for free from the Microsoft Store. Before using the app (or any other tweaking app), we strongly recommend creating a restore point and backing up important data.

Source

In a blog post, Microsoft stated that those commercial customers can learn how to install and activate the public preview of Office LTSC 2024 for both Windows and Mac on their respective support pages. The applications that are a part of the preview include:

• Microsoft Office LTSC Professional Plus 2024 (includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, and Access)
• Microsoft Office LTSC Standard for Mac 2024 (includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote)
• Microsoft Project Professional 2024
• Microsoft Visio Professional 2024

In addition to features found in past Office releases, Microsoft says Office LTSC 2024 will also have "a subset of new features already available in Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise." The specific new features were not revealed. The apps will be supported for five years with software updates when they officially launch later this year.

Microsoft added:

And because we know that many customers deploy Office LTSC on only a subset of their devices, we will continue to support the deployment of both Office LTSC and Microsoft 365 Apps to different machines within the same organization using a common set of deployment tools: Click-to-Run on Windows and Apple Package format (pkg) on Mac, just like Office LTSC 2021.

Microsoft previously said that when the commercial versions of Office 2024 launched, customers would see higher prices, up to 10 percent, for the app collection compared to the previous Office release. Microsoft also confirmed that there will be a consumer version of Office 2024 released this year, but its prices will not be going up.

Earlier this week, Microsoft said that support for Office 2016 and 2019 apps will end on October 14, 2025.

Source

Source

In a blog post, Vivaldi stated:

As an extra bonus we also include Windows arm64 “architecture preview” packages for those of you with suitable hardware. These builds are not yet part of our automated test system and have only been lightly tested on one piece of hardware. Serious issues may exist and should be expected. Nonetheless, any testing and feedback would be greatly appreciated!

You can download the new 3329.7 version of the browser from the blog post in Windows 10/11 32-bit and 64-bit versions, along with macOS and Linux versions and the new and very early Windows 10/11 ARM64 version.

The release of Google Chrome and Vivaldi browsers with Windows ARM support seems to show that there's a growing interest in making apps that run natively on that kind of hardware. That's due to the upcoming launch of new Windows notebooks that will have Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite CPUs

These processors, which were officially announced in October 2023, were designed to give Intel, AMD, and Apple's M1 chips a run for their money in terms of performance. The Qualcomm chips will include 12 high-performance cores and a maximum clock speed of 3.8GHz, along with an integrated Adreno GPU and an AI-themed neural processing unit.

A number of major Windows PC makers have confirmed they will release notebooks with the Snapdragon X Elite chip in 2024, They include Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP, HONOR, Lenovo, Microsoft, Samsung, and Xiaomi.

Earlier this week, images that allegedly show an upcoming Snapdragon X Elite-based notebook, the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 14, found their way onto the internet. Details about the notebook's hardware specs were not revealed, however.

Source

It appears that the upgraded File Explorer in Windows 11 could be exclusive to ARM-powered "AI PCs." Albacore shared their findings on X, revealing that AI Explorer allegedly has the following system requirements:

• An ARM64 processor
• A minimum of 16GB of RAM
• A minimum of 225GB of space
• The Qualcomm Snapdragon Elite Neural Processing Unit (NPU, hardware ID QCOM0D0A)

This discovery matches the previous story about Microsoft raising the base RAM requirement for "AI PCs" to a minimum of 16GB.

It is interesting to see Qualcomm's NPU and ARM64 processors listed as requirements, considering that the latest Intel and AMD chips also have Neural Processing Units built-in. This might indicate that not all "AI PCs" will be equal, and the available feature set will depend on your hardware. Turning "AI Explorer" into an ARM-exclusive feature could also be a Microsoft strategy to make ARM-powered Windows PCs more appealing to the masses.

While official details about "AI File Explorer" are pretty much non-existent, rumors say it will offer some interesting capabilities, such as the ability to interact with it using natural language and make requests like "find me that thing about dinosaurs" or similar.

If you do not plan to purchase a new PC with an ARM chip inside (like this one from Lenovo), you are still on track to get some nice features in Windows 11 version 24H2. Check out our article covering five cool things that are coming soon to Microsoft's operating system. The best part is that there are more to come.

Source

The 2024 update for Windows 11, version 24H2, is expected to be unveiled later this year. According to reports, the RTM (release to manufacturing) is going to happen this month itself, and the timing seems to align with another recent development wherein Microsoft released a Windows Insider build for HLK (Hardware Lab Kit) which essentially helps test and verify hardware compatibility.

The recent developments have led to speculation that the latest Canary and Dev channel Insider build 26100.1 belongs to the RTM branch. However, the build has quite a few issues, even outside those acknowledged by Microsoft.

The tech giant has currently released a new build 26100.2 under KB5037941, which appears to be an OEM build. Since it is for the OEM branch Microsoft has not released a separate changelog for it.

OEM builds like these are meant to be pre-installed on OEM PCs, the likes of vendors like Dell, HP, Asus, Lenovo, among others. This build is based on the previous build, 26100.1, and hence the bugs and issues may likely persist with this too.

This build is different from a servicing pipeline build wherein Microsoft tests the Insider servicing channels before pushing some major updates through. Also, if you don't have build 26100.1 installed, you are unlikely to receive this.

If you want to have a go at it, it is available on the UUP dump website. But again, this isn't really something you need or we recommend.

Recently Microsoft and AMD announced new Windows 11 AI PCs for enterprise and they will be powered by Ryzen 8000 PRO CPUs and Pluton security chips. AMD says these are arriving in Q2 and Computex 2024 in early June is where we expect to find these.

Via: Xeno (X / Twitter), Deskmodder

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In a post on his X (formerly Twitter) account, Rudy Huyn, Principal Architect at Microsoft and a member of the Microsoft Store development team, wrote that the app now has been set up so that any applications or games you might have already installed from the Store are now less visible on the Store's home pages.

Huyn says this feature was put in place to make it "easier for you to discover new apps" in the Microsoft Store. Users who still want to see the full algorithmic app lists can do so by "clicking on the module title", according to Huyn.

This is just the latest update for the Microsoft Store app in the space of just a few months. In January, the Store app got a new version that included the addition of notifications when the Store finished installing an app or game on the PC.

Just a few weeks ago in late March, the Microsoft Store added a "What's New" section that includes details of the latest versions of the Store app although it still does not include the actual app version numbers.

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Compatibility remains the same as the current stable channel of these operating systems, and is available over the air to users who opt in to receiving beta updates in the Software Update section of Settings.

Key new features in this version of iOS including the enabling of downloading apps from the web in the EU, which follows the enabling of independent app markets on iOS devices starting with iOS 17.4.

Other features include a new game for Apple News+ subscribers called Quartiles, Game Center Leaderboard integration for all Apple News+ games, expanding the tracker warning system to those not part of the Find My network and other minor visual tweaks to the Podcast widget and the Books app.

The final observation within these betas is references to unreleased models of iPad. Model identifiers for four new iPads have been seen within the code, which suggests the below:

• iPad 16,3 - 11-inch iPad Pro (Wi-Fi)
• iPad 16,4 - 11-inch iPad Pro (Wi-Fi+Cellular)
• iPad 16,5 - 13-inch iPad Pro (Wi-Fi)
• iPad 16,6 - 13-inch iPad Pro (Wi-FI+Cellular)

New iPads have been long rumoured to arrive in the near future, with many expecting another event in October 2023. The date came and went with nary a sign of them, and as more time passes, it may not be until October 2024 that we see a range refresh.

Some hints to this refresh have been seen in the code for the latest betas, with references to unique display firmware for these models, which may corroborate the rumours that these new iPad Pros will come with OLED panels for the first time, seen to be dual-supply from both Samsung and LG.

Source: 9to5Mac

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In less than a month, another buggy update hit Edge and this time, an 8 KB Microsoft Copilot entry was discovered in the Windows 11 Installed apps list. Again, the update was pulled when the media, including Neowin, started reporting about it.

This was another one of those unannounced changes Microsoft quietly pushed, like the new "UCPD driver" that blocks Registry hacks related to default app choices.

Microsoft has now confirmed that this was a bug, and it has also added that the app is harmless as it does not run any code in the background, and no user data is captured by it. On its health dashboard website, the company explains:

Updates to Edge browser version 123.0.2420.65, released on March 28, 2024 and later, might incorrectly install a new package (MSIX) called ‘Microsoft chat provider for Copilot in Windows’ on Windows devices. Resulting from this, the Microsoft Copilot app might appear in the Installed apps in Settings menu.

 

It is important to note that the Microsoft chat provider for Copilot in Windows does not execute any code or process, and does not acquire, analyze, or transmit device or environment data in any capacity.

 

This package is intended to prepare some Windows devices for future Windows Copilot enablement and is not intended for all devices. Although the component installed as part of this issue can cause the Microsoft Copilot app to be shown as part of the Installed apps, this component does not fully install or enable Microsoft Copilot.

 

As part of the upcoming resolution of this issue, the chat provider for Copilot in Windows component will be removed from devices where Microsoft Copilot is not intended to be enabled or installed. This includes most Windows Server devices.

If true, this is certainly some good news following the recent events about Windows 11 and its introduction of more ads and promos in the Start menu, which led a former Windows UX head to express their disappointment about the matter. This was hot on the heels of another ex-engineer calling out Windows 11's "bad" performance. However, the company is currently testing more Copilot ads inside Edge.

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I tried on one Windows 10 system and three Windows 11 PCs. I even fired up a virtual machine just to see if it would make a difference. Nada.

According to Microsoft, customers from the European Economic Area should be able to do so. Whenever I check Microsoft Edge in the Settings app on Windows 10 or Windows 11 devices, I get a grayed out uninstall button. I double-checked to make sure that the latest Windows updates are installed.

How can this be? Last time I checked, Germany is a member state of the European Union. Microsoft even confirms that it planned to roll out the changes to all customers in the European Economic Area by early April".

It wrote: "Throughout March we will increase the number of PCs in the rollout, while closely monitoring for any quality issues. Our plan is to deliver and enable our DMA changes for all PCs in the EEA by early April. After the update is applied, a restart is required to fully enable the changes."

Microsoft has not updated the post on its website. The most likely explanation is that the rollout is still not complete and that it is controlled on the server side. Since there is no official update, it is unclear if that is the case. It could also be a bug affecting some systems.

There are ways to remove Microsoft Edge. This requires running a command from an elevated PowerShell terminal window. Users who really want Edge gone can resort to these options.

Microsoft did promise, however, that Edge could be uninstalled just like any other regular app on the system.

Closing Words

Most Windows users in the EU and EEC will probably remain unaware of the option that Edge can be uninstalled (eventually). The uninstallation can lead to a cul-de-sac situation. If Edge is the only browser, there is no apparent option to install another browser. With Edge gone, there is seemingly no option to install a different browser.

Windows users who run into the issue may want to fire up the command prompt and use winget to install a different browser. The command winget install Mozilla Firefox installs Mozilla's Firefox web browser on the device. You can also use it to install other browsers, e.g., chrome.

What about you? Can you remove Microsoft Edge or have done so already?

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Meta has introduced a new change to WhatsApp which should make it helluva lot easier to find messages you’re looking for. In the latest update, there are now three filters at the top of your chat list: All, Unread, and Groups which can be selected with a tap.

Clicking on the All tab will show you the default view of all your messages, Unread will only show you those conversations you haven’t opened yet so you can get back to people, and Groups will only display your group chats.

In its announcement, Meta said:

“We believe filters will make it easier for people to stay organized and find their most important conversations and help navigate through messages more efficiently. We’ll continue to build options to help you focus on what matters most.”

You won’t have to wait very long at all to get this change in your WhatsApp, Meta said that the roll out is starting today and will be available to everyone in the coming weeks. You won’t need to do anything to enable the feature, just look out for the tabs at the top of WhatsApp and press them to begin using them.

As one of the most popular messaging apps on the market, most people will have lots of conversations on there so having a way to filter through the messages quickly is a welcome change that many users will appreciate.

Meta is always busy adding new features to WhatsApp, in recent weeks, Neowin reported that WhatsApp will soon be getting a picture-in-picture mode for videos and that a new Favorites feature was in the WhatsApp Beta.

Hopefully, we won’t have to wait long for these extra features to land in this popular messaging app to help put it on par with the likes of Telegram, which is always adding new stuff including a sticker editor most recently.

Source: WhatsApp

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In a blog post, Microsoft says the new Photos version is available for members of the Canary and Dev channels in the Windows Insider Program. It's also only available for Windows 11 users in the US, UK, Australia, Ireland, India, and New Zealand.

Here is the post:

Photos app integration with Designer

 

We’re adding a new way to unlock the creative potential of your images through Designer. Simply click the Designer button in the title bar when viewing a single image in the Photos app, and your image will open Designer in the default web browser.

 

Once in Designer, you can apply templates, add visuals, and use AI tools to help you personalize your photo further. For example, try using AI to generate a new custom background for your photo using these simple steps:

 

• With your photo selected, click on “Remove background” in the toolbar.
• Click Visuals in the left pane and select Generate to create a custom image background from a prompt.
• Click on the desired generated image to insert it on the canvas.
• From the toolbar, select Set as background to place the generated image behind your photo.

If you are a member of the Canary or Dev channels in the Windows Insider Program in the countries where this new version of the app is being rolled out, you will need to update Photos so that it is running on version 2024.11040.16001.0 or higher.

You will also need a free Microsoft account to access Designer. Those users can send their feedback about this new Photos feature in the Feedback Hub under Apps > Photos.

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Although the complete list of new features in Windows 11 version 24H2 is not finished yet, we already know about quite a few changes coming soon to the operating system. Here are five cool ones (some of them will arrive before version 24H2).

1. Use your phone as a webcam

Windows 11 will soon let you use your Android smartphone as a wireless webcam. Modern phones have great cameras, and even expensive webcams often cannot match their capabilities. Future Windows updates will make it possible to use different cameras in your smartphones for video calling on PC, apply additional effects (HDR, for example), and more.

Microsoft wants to make the experience as convenient as possible. Windows 11 will offer a dedicated flyout with all the controls and extra information, such as connection status and battery level. As of right now, the ability to use Android smartphones as webcams with Windows 11 PCs is available to all Windows Insiders with the Link to Windows app version 1.24012 and greater.

2. Deeper Copilot integration

Copilot in Windows still feels like a massive afterthought with a very limited set of actually useful Windows-related features. Luckily, Microsoft is making its new AI assistant more capable in terms of interacting with your hardware. You will soon be able to ask Copilot to scan for Wi-Fi networks, show device information, report battery level, toggle battery saver, clean some storage, take a screenshot, interact with accessibility features, and more.

That might not sound too impressive, but it may actually make working with a Windows PC much easier for less experienced customers.

3. Built-in QR-code generator

This one is rather minor, but such tiny stuff is often what makes an operating system convenient. One of the future Windows updates will let you generate QR codes when sharing links, making transferring websites from PC to phone much easier. No more emailing links to yourself or waiting for Microsoft Edge to sync your history.

4. Energy saver

Microsoft is working on expanding the existing energy saver to more devices, namely desktop computers that traditionally do not rely on rechargeable batteries. The new energy saver will trade more performance for battery life and let you reduce your energy consumption at reaching a certain battery life or even when plugged in.

Turning on the energy saver from the Settings app or the Quick Settings flyout will place a new leaf icon in the notification area to inform you that your system is operating at a lower performance level to conserve energy.

5. More lock screen widgets

The Lock screen in Windows 11 will soon show more useful information. Its current version lets you place a weather widget, and future updates will add more. Look out for stocks, traffic, sports games, and more. Of course, those widgets are optional, so you will still have the option to run a simple and clean lock screen on your Windows 11 PC.

And by the way, those widgets are coming to Windows 10 as well.

Bonus: Wi-Fi refresh button

The network will finally have a dedicated refresh button so you can rescan for available networks if you cannot spot the one you need. It is hard to tell why implementing this tiny thing took Microsoft so long, but I guess it is better late than never.

Those are only five neat features coming soon to Windows 11. The upcoming Windows 11 version 24H2 will bring much more to the table later this year, so look out for more news in the coming months. We will revisit this list after the May 2024 Surface event and the Build 2024 conference, where Microsoft is expected to announce plenty of AI and other features.

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Nvidia's latest driver release has brought official support for two highly-anticipated games coming soon to PC gamers in early access. There some important application-related bug fixes included too.

The Nvidia GeForce Game Ready 552.22 WHQL-certified driver is a recommended install for any gamers using green team hardware planning on jumping into Manor Lords or No Rest for the Wicked.

Manor Lords is out via Steam Early Access and Xbox Game Preview on April 26, and it will be using Nvidia's DLSS 2 upscaling technology for boosting frame rates from the get-go. Nvidia says it will let players get 47% more performance on average when using RTX 4070 or better graphics cards.

Next, April 18 is when Ori-developer Moon Studios' latest project, No Rest for the Wicked is hitting Steam Early Access. Nvidia doesn't list any DLSS or RTX implementations that will be included with the game, but this driver is still a recommended install for fans looking to experience the release smoothly.

As for bug fixes, here are the resolved issues in the 552.22 Game Ready driver:

• PUBG: Game stability issues over extended gameplay on Intel 12th Gen platforms [4030936]
• GeForce GTX 10/RTX 20 series: PC may randomly freeze when Windows Hardware Accelerated GPU Scheduling and NVIDIA SLI are both enabled [4009884]
• HTC Vive Pro 2: System crash with bugcheck after enabling VR HMD with multidisplays [4119187]

Creative application users will find the following four issues fixed in the 552.22 Studio driver:

• Chaos V-Ray: NVIDIA OptiX IR fails to link [4479756]
• Jianying Pro: General stability issues with 551.xx drivers [4561996]
• SideFX/Houdini: OptiX applications crashing when using Shader Execution Reordering (SER) [4589827]
• Maya: Application crash for some user workflows [4584743]

Lastly, the open issues Nvidia's teams are still working on are these:

• Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition: Lower GPU utilization when Reflex is set to “On + Boost” [4412035]
• Tekken 8 may randomly crash during gameplay on GeForce GTX 10-series graphics cards. [4503216]

The Nvidia 552.22 driver is now available to download and install via the GeForce Experience app on Windows. Standalone links and the official release notes (PDF) can be found below as well.

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What is new in Firefox 125.0.1?

New features

 

• Firefox now supports the AV1 codec for Encrypted Media Extensions (EME), enabling higher-quality playback from video streaming providers.
• The Firefox PDF viewer now supports text highlighting.

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• Firefox View now displays pinned tabs in the Open tabs section. Tab indicators have also been added to Open tabs, so users can do things like see which tabs are playing media and quickly mute or unmute across windows. Indicators were also added for bookmarks, tabs with notifications, and more!

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• Firefox now prompts users in the US and Canada to save their addresses upon submitting an address form, allowing Firefox to autofill stored address information in the future.

• Firefox now more proactively blocks downloads from URLs that are considered to be potentially untrustworthy.

• The URL Paste Suggestion feature provides a convenient way for users to quickly visit URLs copied to the clipboard in the address bar of Firefox. When the clipboard contains a URL and the URL bar is focused, an autocomplete result appears automatically. Activating the clipboard suggestion will navigate the user to the URL with 1 click.

• Users of tab-specific Container add-ons can now search in the Address Bar for tabs that are open in different containers. Special thanks to volunteer contributor atararx for kicking off the work on this feature!

• Firefox now provides an option to enable Web Proxy Auto-Discovery (WPAD) while configured to use system proxy settings.

   

Changes

 

• In a group of radio buttons where no option is selected, the tab key now only reaches the first option rather than cycling through all available options. The arrow keys navigate between options as they do when there is a selected option. This makes keyboard navigation more efficient and consistent.

 

Developer

 

• Following several requests, we have reintroduced the option to disable the Pause Debugger Overlay (devtools.debugger.features.overlay). This overlay appears over the page content when the debugger pauses JavaScript execution. In certain scenarios, the overlay can be intrusive, making it challenging to interact with the page, for instance, evaluating shades of color underneath.
• We've added a new drop-down menu button at the bottom of the source view in the Debugger panel, specifically designed for Source Map related actions. Users can now easily disable or enable Source Maps support, open the Source Map file in a new tab, switch between the original source and the generated bundle, toggle the "open original source by default" option, and view the Source Map status such as errors, loading status, etc.

 

Web Platform

 

• Firefox now supports the popover global attribute used for designating an element as a popover element. The element won't be rendered until it is made visible, after which it will appear on top of other page content.

• WebAssembly multi-memory is now enabled by default. Wasm multi-memory allows wasm modules to use and import multiple independent linear memories. This enables more efficient interoperability between modules and provides better polyfills for upcoming wasm standards, such as the component model.

• Added support for Unicode Text Segmentation to JavaScript.

• Added support for contextlost and contextrestored events on HTMLCanvasElement and OffscreenCanvas to allow user code to recover from context loss with hardware accelerated 2d canvas.

• Firefox now supports the navigator.clipboard.readText() web API. A paste context menu will appear for the user to confirm when attempting to read clipboard data not provided by the same-origin page.

• Added support for the content-box and stroke-box keywords of the transform-box CSS property.

• The align-content property now works in block layout, allowing block direction alignment without needing a flex or grid container.

• Support for SVGAElement.text was removed in favor of the more widely-implemented SVGAElement.textContent method.

To download Firefox 125, head to Menu > Help > About Firefox. Alternatively, go to the official website and download the installer. Full release notes are available here.

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Microsoft released version 22403 for testing in the Windows Insider program earlier this month, and it is now available to all users in the Stable Channel. According to Rudy Huyn from the Microsoft Store team, in version 22403, customers can expect faster product page loading (up to 40% faster on average), optimized entitlement and licensing so that the "Buy" button appears faster (up to 50% on average), and a smoother launch experience with a reworked splash screen.

You can see the comparison between version 22403 and previous releases in a series of posts on Rudy's X:

To check your Microsoft Store app version, launch the store and click your profile icon in the top right corner. Select Settings and scroll down to the About section. The Microsoft Store app updates itself automatically in the background, but you can also check for updates manually by heading to the Library section and clicking the "Check for updates" button.

In case you missed it, Microsoft recently introduced a "What's new" section where you can see the latest improvements and new features in the Microsoft Store app on Windows. The "What's new" button sits right on top of the Library button in the bottom-left corner.

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At some point this weekend, Airchat cofounder Naval Ravikant had to close off new sign-ups to his app. After releasing a new version Friday, Airchat was quickly overloaded with people thirsting for a glimpse—or an audio snippet—of Silicon Valley’s newest fad. Ravikant had given a small number of users unlimited invites to share with friends, and it backfired.

“We’ve had an influx of new users, so we’re turning off the invitation capability for a little while,” Ravikant said on Sunday.

Ravikant didn’t say this to WIRED, or on Twitter or Threads. He said it in a short audio post within his own app, accompanied by a transcription. If a voice note drops in a forest and only Silicon Valley’s early adopters are there to hear it, does it make a noise? Ravikant seems confident it will.

Airchat marries the feed aspect of Twitter with the audio-first format of Clubhouse, a daunting combo. After launching the app and being prompted to follow some contacts, you’re put into a minimalist feed of text blocks. These text blocks are actually transcriptions of audio bytes. The app automatically jumps from voice note to voice note, unless you think to tap the Play/Pause button wedged in the lower right corner of the app.

To post an audio note yourself, you hold down the Audio/Video button at the bottom of the app, talk, and let go. (From what I’ve seen so far, no one really uses the Video option.) If you’d prefer not to post publicly, there’s also a DM option. Either way, there’s no typing allowed.

Airchat has confounding elements. Voice notes are posted to the Airchat feed the moment you release the Audio/Video button, so you’d better get it right the first try. There’s an option to delete after you’ve spoken, if you decide you weren’t happy with your byte, but I didn’t notice the trash can icon until someone pointed it out to me. Sorting through multiple responses to a voice note is less than intuitive. You can’t respond to every voice note or see every response in a given thread, and it’s not clear why. It’s also unclear how long a single Airchat message can be; one user told me his limit was 45 seconds, but in a test I was able to record for about a minute before I opted to stop.

And all voice notes play back at 2X speed by default, giving everyone a vaguely hyper, just-woke-up-and-slammed-my-Philz-then-cold-plunged vibe. If you hold down the Play/Pause button in the lower right corner of the app you can adjust the speed, which is, again, less than intuitive.

This new Airchat is apparently a reincarnated version of the app that was released without fanfare last spring. Brian Norgard, the longtime chief product officer of Tinder, had first envisioned it as a peer-to-peer voice messaging app. Ravikant, the founder of AngelList, joined Norgard one year ago and became “super involved” in the app’s development a couple of months ago. Then the new Airchat entered the chat.

Ravikant said most of the funding for Airchat has come from his own fund, as well as from Jeff Fagnan, a founding partner at Accomplice Ventures. “[OpenAI CEO] Sam Altman threw in a check, kind of blindly,” Ravikant said. He communicated all of this to me in a public response on Airchat, after politely declining to respond to my DMs and insisting our conversation should happen in public. “It can’t be a side-channel, DM-based interview. That’s the old world that we are leaving behind,” he told me. (In the old world, as in the new world, conducting an interview synchronously is almost always … preferable.)

So far the Airchat feed appears to be filled with tech enthusiasts, early adopters, venture capitalists, and journalists. There’s lots of Bitcoin posting. Winefluencer Gary Vaynerchuk is on the app. So is Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan. This weekend Tan posted, “Breakfast is the first step to greatness. What are you eating this morning?” So far it has more than 96 audio responses. Social media is back, baby.

Airchat has AI. What doesn’t? The app’s deployment, though, is quietly sensible. The transcripts for each Airchat voice note appear almost immediately, and they’re good. Pronounced “Ums” appear within the transcript, but other slight pauses and filler words are edited out. When I used the word “Airchat” in a voice note, it first showed as “error chat,” then quickly self-corrected. The app appears to be able to recognize and transcribe other languages, too; one user spoke in Russian and the transcript appeared in Cyrillic, while another spoke in Moroccan Arabic, known as darija, and then marveled in a follow-up voice note at how good the transcription was.

So what will happen to all of this voice data? Ravikant claimed that the creators of Airchat have no intention of training a large language model on user voices and making “weird synthetic clones of you.” He also said he wouldn’t sell Airchat data to another company building AI models, especially given how relatively small the app is and how uncategorized its data. Airchat will, however, likely use people’s voice data to train a model that improves its own audio and transcription functions. If you’re in, you’ve opted in.

I asked Ravikant about whether some AI company might still scrape Airchat data without a formal agreement. He replied, “We’ll block them, we’ll sue them, and then, if I have a battery of orbital satellites, we’d nuke them from orbit.”

Airchat’s monetization plans are less clear. Navikant hasn’t said anything about charging for access. The current format seems to lend itself to audio ads, but there’s always the risk of making the app unlistenable.

There’s also the issue of content moderation when people’s unfiltered sound bytes are posted to a timeline the moment they release the virtual microphone. One troll seemed to be pushing the boundaries of it on Sunday, cursing the app’s founders, calling the app “fucking trash,” and in as many words telling the founders to, uh, perform fellatio. The voice note is still there. So is a thread where two users go back and forth telling a story about “gay Jewish teens” and “neo-Nazi killers.”

Over the weekend an Airchat channel was created and named simply: War. More than 529 members have joined. Conversation topics ranged from Iran’s drone attack on Israel to the war in Gaza to US tensions with China. People shared strong opinions, unconfirmed news reports, claims of having “done a little research,” thoughts on “economical weapons,” and predictions about the price of oil. “Requesting more unwarranted opinions from VCs on geopolitics,” one Airchatter said.

The conversation, while asynchronous, was reminiscent of what you used to find on Clubhouse, the live-audio conversation app that went viral during the pandemic before flaming out. It, too, was plagued by the moderation challenges that come with an audio-based platform. Last fall, Clubhouse relaunched as a … place for asynchronous voice notes. Never say there aren’t any new ideas.

Airchat’s stated policies emphasize self-moderation: You can mute or block a person, but that’s an isolated solution to the thornier problem of harmful content or misinformation festering on an app. It also states that it won’t remove people platform-wide for polite disagreement, or over politics, but it will remove people for harassment, impersonation, foul behavior, and illegal content.

I scanned Ravikant’s Airchat feed to see if he had posted anything more specific about moderation. I couldn’t find it but did notice that, late on Sunday, he had opened the app back up to iOS users. He also appeared to be having a hard time sleeping. “God, I have to go to sleep,” he posted. His voice sounded tired. “But I’m having, like, the best conversation in DMs. I’m having the best conversation here.”

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