Microsoft's Recall feature has been nothing short of a PR nightmare. Announced as part of its Copilot+ suite of AI features, it was set to arrive on new hardware that's going to ship on June 18. And now, it's being delayed indefinitely. In an update to a blog post, the company says that in the coming weeks, it's going to begin testing Recall with Windows Insiders who opt to try it, before rolling it out broadly.

Picsart’s AI image generator will be available some time later this year. | Image: Picsart Image and video-editing platform Picsart has teamed up with Getty Images to launch a “responsible, commercially-safe” AI image generator that’s trained exclusively on the stock image platform’s licensed content.Picsart says its AI lab is building a custom model from scratch that will power the tool, allowing the platform’s paid subscribers to generate images with full commercial rights — which aims to address long-standing concerns regarding AI-generated potentially content violating copyright laws. The Picsart / Getty Images generator tool is expected to launch “later this year,” and will be accessible through Picsart’s API services.This collaborative project shares similarities with Adobe’s Firefly AI model, which initially launched... Continue reading…

Photo by Monica Chin / The Verge Asus’ reputation for customer support has been tarnished, and the company is now pledging a long list of concrete fixes to Gamers Nexus. Chief among them: if you’ve ever been denied a warranty repair or charged for a service that was unnecessary or should’ve been free, Asus wants to hear from you at a new email address. It claims those disputes will be processed by Asus’ own staff rather than outsourced customer support agents.And, after failing to even acknowledge the ROG Ally handheld’s SD card reader issues for over a year, the company will be finally be issuing a formal statement about the defect next week, Gamers Nexus is reporting.One month ago, GN revealed that Asus could in some instances charge customers for unwanted and... Continue reading…

I wonder what this 3D logo could mean... | Image: Yacht Club Games Shovel Knight might be bouncing into 3D. Developer Yacht Club Games just announced a new mainline game in the hit series that started as a retro-inspired 2D platformer, and the studio says this new game will “launch Shovel Knight into an entirely new dimension of gaming,” according to a blog post.If that wasn’t enough of a clue about the move to 3D, the Yacht Club Games’ Friday livestream celebrating the 10th anniversary of Shovel Knight featured an even more pointed hint: a 3D version of the Yacht Club Games logo.The studio is staying mum about many specifics — there’s no release window — but did tease that “the game will bring electrifying action, richer mechanics, and all the timeless charm you expect from a Shovel Knight title.” W... Continue reading…

As great as MacBooks are, the fact that they run macOS makes them a non-starter for many people. The good news is that at least two laptop makers are offering up some slick mobile workstations that give even the MacBook Pro a run for its money. One of those makers is Microsoft, the company behind Windows itself, with the new Surface Laptop 7 hitting the market in May. Dell has also revamped its XPS line with the excellent new XPS 16. The Surface Laptop 7 and Dell XPS 16 are two of the most promising new releases of 2024, and either one can scratch that "MacBook itch" for Windows users looking for a premium PC. Let's compare the two and see which one comes out on top.

We've seen how the Raspberry Pi can be used to create some awesome and innovative projects. But SBCs can also be powerful tools that can be used to resurrect old pieces of tech that were left abandoned by their manufacturers. And that just happens to be the case for Canon's popular MP250 printer, which has long been retired by the brand.

Apple’s Siri voice assistant has a new look and a new brain. | Image: Apple Voice assistants hold so much promise, but in the decade-plus since Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa first wormed their ways into our lives, their most compelling use is still setting timers. Competition from Google’s Assistant (and if we’re being charitable, Samsung’s Bixby) failed to light the spark of innovation in this space, and in many ways, voice control has regressed. These assistants regularly misunderstand, mishear, and sometimes just don’t listen at all. They’re a far cry from the proactive, actually smart digital assistants they were originally pitched as.Enter generative AI: the technology voice assistants need to transform them from novel to necessary. This week at its Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple announced plans... Continue reading…

Image: Microsoft Microsoft is planning to launch its new Copilot Plus PCs next week without its controversial Recall feature that screenshots everything you do on these new laptops. The software maker is holding back Recall so it can test it with the Windows Insider program, after originally promising to ship Recall as an opt-in feature with additional security improvements.“We are adjusting the release model for Recall to leverage the expertise of the Windows Insider community to ensure the experience meets our high standards for quality and security,” says Microsoft in an updated blog post. “When Recall (preview) becomes available in the Windows Insider Program, we will publish a blog post with details on how to get the preview.”This means that... Continue reading…

As Apple continues to reinvent the iPad, it increasingly resembles a Mac computer. This isnt just regarding its form factor when you add accessories like the Magic Keyboard and Folio Case, but also when comparing their processing power and interface. The latest Apple iPad Pro model skipped right to the Apple M4 chip, effectively making it more powerful than some Macs. Now with the upgrade to iPadOS 18, there are new features that help the iPad get closer and closer to being usable as a full-fledged computer. There are a few specific features in iPadOS 18 that will help drive this forward.

Buying the best gaming headset can provide an exciting surround-sound experience. A good headset can make a huge difference while playing games, be it an online competitive shooter or a casual single-player title. Your choice of gaming headset will determine how you hear the sound effects in the virtual world and how you communicate with your teammates in-game.

Microsoft recently re-opened the Beta branch for Windows 10 to test new features for version 22H2 with Insiders before rolling them out to everyone. While new features coming to Windows 10 22H2 is good news for lots of people who are still using it instead of switching to Windows 11, it will likely be challenging to clean install the OS without connecting to the internet.

Why read the article when you can just AI generate takeaways? | Image: Yahoo Artifact is dead, long live Yahoo’s version of Artifact. The architecture behind Artifact, the news aggregation app built by Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, will live on inside the body of a brand-new Yahoo News app.Available to download today on iOS and Android, the new Yahoo News app brings an AI-powered personalized news feed for users based on their interests, while a feature called Key Takeaways can give a bullet summary of a news article when a reader is feeling TL;DR.Other features of the Yahoo News app include Top Stories, which picks up on trending stories for users to read and will soon include key takeaway summaries. You can block stories with undesired keywords, as well as filter out certain publishers... Continue reading…