Despite Windows 11’s improvements, users still need third-party tools for basic functionality. From monitor brightness control to bulk app uninstallation, these gaps show Microsoft has work to do. Here are the five essential tools that should be native to the OS.
Google DeepMind is establishing a new AI research facility in Singapore focused on Asia-Pacific development. The company has nearly doubled its regional team over the past year. Meanwhile, Google is offering college students free access to its AI Pro plan until December 9.
Microsoft just released PowerToys 0.96 with significant enhancements to existing utilities rather than new tools. The update brings multi-AI provider support to Advanced Paste, major Command Palette improvements, and photo metadata extraction for PowerRename. This continues Microsoft’s pattern of re
Chrome is overhauling its autofill and passwords management with a new “Your saved info” hub. The redesign brings together all stored data with a cleaner layout and adds support for identity documents, travel details, and loyalty cards. This represents Google’s biggest reorganization of Chrome’s per
Cloudflare experienced its most significant outage in five years on Tuesday, knocking out services including ChatGPT and X. The problem stemmed from the company’s Bot Management system, which controls automated crawlers. About 20% of the web runs through Cloudflare’s network, making this a widesprea
The author completely eliminated cloud subscription fees by deploying a two-container Docker setup. Syncthing handles peer-to-peer file synchronization while OpenCloud provides a polished web interface for remote access and sharing. The combination offers both speed and enterprise-level features wit
Microsoft is rolling out several major Windows improvements focused on reliability and productivity. The most visible change hides Blue Screens of Death from public displays, while new recovery features aim to prevent system failures entirely.
OpenAI’s new CEO of Applications Fidji Simo reveals her first priority was addressing mental health risks with ChatGPT. The Meta alum says her former company failed to anticipate societal risks from its products. Now she’s navigating what she calls an “uncharted” path with AI safety.
Microsoft is replacing Azure Vision with generative AI for automatic alt text in Word and PowerPoint. The new system creates much more detailed and contextual image descriptions. However, it’s now an opt-in feature rather than automatic.
Microsoft announced new AI agents for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint that generate content from scratch rather than just refining existing work. The agents are currently available through Microsoft’s Frontier early access program for commercial customers, with broader access coming soon. This represent
