Whenever I manage large databases and projects in Excel, Microsoft’s spreadsheet software can sometimes feel intimidating. It often results in an inefficient and frustrating experience. Then, I decided to take control and build my own Excel dashboard. The result was transformative. Suddenly, I had a clear, concise, and visually engaging snapshot of everything I needed to know.

Mario Kart World is the culmination of everything Nintendo has worked on with the Mario Kart series so far. It takes tracks from old games, revitalizing them with the latest hardware, and adds brand-new tracks for players to enjoy. So far, there have been a fair number of tracks revealed to be in the game, and there are already some major frontrunners when it comes to creativity that I feel are worth mentioning. That is why I have thrown together a list of the best Mario Kart World tracks that have been revealed so far. We have images of some, but most of these are ones that have received at least a spot in the trailer.

Right-wing influencers are shilling an app that purportedly lets people earn crypto for reporting sightings of undocumented immigrants. ICERAID, a “GovFi protocol that delegates intelligence gathering tasks to citizens,” has recently been promoted by the likes of conspiracy theorist and Trump confidante Laura Loomer, Proud Boy-turned-media personality Jacob Engels, and disgraced former Rep. Matt Gaetz.“It’s like a citizen’s arrest, but with Wi-Fi,” Gaetz said on a recent episode of his One America News Network show. “Forget driving Uber or DoorDash for extra change. Snap a pic, save the day, and stack some digital cash while you’re doing it.”ICERAID’s website describes it as a “GovFi” — government finance, a term coined by ICERAID founder Jason Meyers — protocol on Solana that “rewards citizens for capturing and uploading images of criminal illegal alien activity.” (To be clear, ICERAID has no connection to the government.) And ICERAID isn’t just soliciting images of suspected immigrants. “You can snap a picture of someone committing animal cruelty or homicide, kidnapping, terrorism — you see someone scraping a Tesla, that’s domestic ter …Read the full story at The Verge.

Copilot Vision is now free in Edge.Copilot Vision, Microsoft’s AI assistant feature that can interpret what’s on your screen and help you use apps, is now available for free use within the Edge browser, Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI, announced on Bluesky today. Vision is a “talk-based experience,” as Microsoft calls it, meaning you use it by speaking into the air, then waiting for Copilot to respond.Suleyman says if you opt into the feature, Copilot Vision can “literally see what you see on screen.” Suleyman suggests having Copilot Vision guide you through a recipe while you cook or having it “decode” job descriptions “and jump right into customized interview prep or cover letter brainstorming.” (Although it might not be the best idea to use AI for your resume.) According to a Microsoft support page, “Copilot Vision may highlight portions of the screen to help you find relevant information,” but it doesn’t actually click links or do anything on your behalf.Broader, system-wide Copilot Vision features are still limited to Copilot Pro subscribers. With a subscription, Vision expands beyond Edge, letting you ask it to help you use features in Photoshop or video editing software, or guide you through a game like Minecraft, as it did for The Verge’s Tom Warren earlier this month.To try out Copilot Vision, open this link to Microsoft’s website in the Edge browser. That should give you a prompt to opt into the feature, and once you’ve given permission, you can open the Copilot sidebar while on a website, click the microphone icon, and your Vision session begins, signified by a chime and your browser changing its hue. Or that’s how it should go. In my case, it took a couple of tries before Edge asked if I wanted to opt in. And once I could opt in and initiate a Vision session, the controls never appeared — as of this writing, I simply have a message floating over the bottom of my browser that says “One moment…” But I’m using a fairly old, underpowered laptop, so your mileage may vary.According to Microsoft, the company logs Copilot’s responses to you but doesn’t collect your inputs, images, or page content while in a Copilot Vision session. When you’re ready to stop sharing your screen with Copilot, you can either end the session or close the browser window.

It's been a tough several weeks for Microsoft in the enterprise space recently. In the past few days, we have reported multiple issues in this domain, including typing in classic Outlook spiking CPU usage up to 50%, users experiencing difficulties while sharing files in Teams, and Microsoft completely breaking the option to roll back from the new version of Outlook to the old one. Now, a new bug is causing Windows 11 to become available to ineligible devices, increasing headaches for IT admins.

Microsoft 365 is undoubtedly one of the best office suites out there, but between the Redmond-based tech giant’s insistence on adding AI to its toolkit and the package’s steep pricing, there are plenty of reasons why you might want to switch to free alternatives. Thankfully, the self-hosted ecosystem is brimming with feature-laden productivity tools, and the majority of these utilities are so lightweight that you can deploy them on weaker, low-power devices – including Raspberry Pi SBCs. So, here’s a quick guide on how you can spare your wallet (and privacy) by running a couple of Microsoft 365 alternatives on your pint-sized tinkering companion.

Zoom suffered a major outage this afternoon that prevented people from connecting to video calls and accessing its website. As shown by Cisco’s ThousandEyes platform, site connectivity dropped off at around 2:40PM ET before coming back online nearly two hours later.Users across X posted about the outage, with some getting an “Unable to Connect” error message when entering meetings, and others unable to sign in at all. The Zoom website was also completely down, as it displayed a 502 Bad Gateway error, and its press email didn’t work either.It’s still not clear what caused the issue, but one Reddit user, u/TastesLikeOwlbear, mentioned that the Zoom.us domain may have been in a server hold. This happens when a domain is “not activated in the DNS,” according to ICANN, making it completely inaccessible due to verification, fraud, or security issues. As noted in the Reddit post, the domain registry issue was fixed at 4:12PM ET, but it might take some time for Zoom to come back online for everyone, as DNS servers pick up and propagate the corrected information.“Service has now been restored after the earlier outage, and we sincerely appreciate your patience and understanding,” Zoom said in a post on X at around 5PM ET.The Verge reached out to Zoom and GoDaddy with requests for more information but didn’t immediately hear back.Update, April 16th: Added an update from Zoom.

Microsoft has enabled a new “computer use” feature for Copilot Studio this week that lets AI agents interact with websites and desktop applications. Much like OpenAI’s Operator or Claude’s identically named “computer use” feature, businesses will be able to use Copilot Studio to build AI agents that treat websites and desktop apps as if they’re tools for automating tasks.“Computer use enables agents to interact with websites and desktop apps by clicking buttons, selecting menus, and typing into fields on the screen,” explains Charles Lamanna, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s business & industry Copilot. “This allows agents to handle tasks even when there is no API available to connect to the system directly. If a person can use the app, the agent can too.”Copilot Studio will be able to create AI agents that can automate data entry, perform market research, or even process invoices. This new tool will even detect when buttons and screens change in apps or websites and continue working without failing or breaking, according to Microsoft.Microsoft added a similar feature, dubbed Actions, to its consumer Copilot earlier this month. Actions can be performed in the background while you work on other tasks. Copilot can now do things like book restaurant reservations, event tickets, and purchase items from online stores. The Actions experience is limited to a number of partners though, and it sounds like Copilot Studio will be free to work with more websites and apps.

Cosplay enthusiasts often search for ways to bring their favorite characters to life with realistic props and accessories. 3D printing provides a path to create unique pieces that fit each costume’s needs. These tools can simplify the process and make every costume look polished and sturdy. When combined effectively, they become essential elements that support creative ambitions in a fun and engaging way.

The real PowerShot was the friends we made along the way.I’ve been trying to buy a Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark III for two weeks, and I no longer believe this camera exists. The Canon G7 X III is so popular that strategies for buying them have become a whole sub-genre of videos on TikTokIt definitely existed at one point. The camera was released in 2019, and I’m sure I used one at least for a little bit because I was working at a camera website then. The G7 X III was the latest in a long line of very good “premium” compact cameras with high-end specs like a big sensor, manual controls, and a decent lens. I’ve recommended G-something-X cameras to people for over a decade, but it’s far from the only option if you want a really good compact. Last I checked, Sony was selling roughly twenty different RX100 models, plus a vlogging-friendly ZV-1 II. So I found the news that the G7 X III in particular was so popular among TikTokers that it is nigh impossible to find in stock a little hard to believe.Aside from just generally being a good camera, the G7 X III represented Canon’s attempt to appeal to creators. The compact camera market was all but DOA at that point, so Canon and other manufacturers started adding YouTuber-friend …Read the full story at The Verge.

Apple’s making steady progress toward its climate goals, the company’s latest environmental progress report shows.Its planet-heating pollution shrank by 800,000 metric tons last year compared to 2023, about a 5 percent drop. Looking back over the past decade, Apple says its global greenhouse gas emissions have fallen by more than 60 percent. That’s no easy feat, especially now as the AI arms race pushes other tech companies’ emissions higher. Apple says its global greenhouse gas emissions have fallen by more than 60 percentProcuring renewable energy, designing more sustainable products, and pushing its suppliers to follow suit are key pillars of Apple’s climate plans. The company says its suppliers avoided close to 24 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions last year through renewable energy purchases and gains in energy efficiency. On top of carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels, Apple has to grapple with super potent fluorinated greenhouse gases (F-GHGs) that come from making semiconductors and flat-panel displays. The company says that all of its direct display suppliers have committed to abating at least 90 percent of F-GHGs from facilities used for Apple products. Twenty-six of Apple’s direct semiconductor suppliers have made the same commitment, although Apple hasn’t clarified how big of a chunk that is of its total supply chain for computer chips.   The company also used more recycled materials last year, adding up to nearly a quarter of the materials it shipped in its products. More than 80 percent of the rare earth elements shipped in Apple products — used primarily in magnets for phones and other devices — came from recycled sources in 2024 compared to 75 percent the previous year. Around 99 percent of tungsten, 71 percent of aluminum, 53 percent of lithium, 40 percent of gold, and 76 percent of cobalt in its products came from recycled sources last year, Apple said. Until May 16, the company is offering a 10 percent discount on accessories to customers who bring an eligible item to one of its stores for recycling.Apple still produced 15.3 million metric tons of gross carbon dioxide emissions in 2024, roughly equivalent to the pollution from 40 gas-fired power plants over a year. The company considers 2015 its baseline year for measuring progress, when it produced 38.4 million metric tons of CO2 emissions. By 2030, Apple wants to slash its carbon emissions by 75 percent compared to 2015. It aims to eliminate 90 percent of that pollution by 2050, roughly in line with what researchers have found is necessary to meet the Paris agreement goal of stopping climate change.

I've tried a number of file transfer tools over the years, but when it comes to moving files to and from my external drives, I always find myself reaching for TeraCopy. Here are the reasons why this lightweight utility has earned a permanent spot in my workflow.