This week, there’s a lot of attention being shined on Windows 10, Windows 11, and the differences between them. But one thing you should be using on both operating systems is PowerToys, Microsoft’s free goodie bag of expanded features for advanced users. The latest version of the app includes something the OS really should do on its own already: automatic light/dark mode switching. The new Light Switch (nice name) module is the headline feature of PowerToys 0.95, available as a direct download right now, no beta required—and it’s a pretty great implementation of this idea. Not only can you set a schedule for dark/light modes based on a specific time (or sunset to sunrise), you can even offset it or tie it to a specific location for sunset time. And just like Windows itself, you can choose if lighting modes apply to the full interface, specific apps, or both. Michael Crider/Foundry Here’s my favorite part as a shortcut junkie: You can apply a “theme toggle shortcut” to manually switch between light and dark modes at any time. Nice! By default, this is Windows key + Ctrl + Shift + D. To use the new Light Switch feature—and a bunch of other smaller improvements to the other functions in PowerToys—launch the app and check for an update, or download it from the Microsoft Store or GitHub if you don’t have it already. Read...

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. That’s what’s happening with CNN, which is taking another swing at a standalone streaming subscription service.  CNN’s new “All Access” subscription plan comes three years after the colossal failure of CNN+, an attempt at a supplemental streaming service for CNN “superfans” that lasted for less than a month.  The new CNN streaming plan will be a “centralized destination for CNN’s journalism,” but the official CNN press release stops short of promising a simulcast of the CNN basic cable channel.  Priced at $6.99 a month and slated to go live on October 28, the CNN “All Access” plan will offer a “selection of CNN’s live US and International programming,” as well as access to a thousand hours of on-demand CNN Original Series and CNN Films content.  Also on tap is “exclusive new” on-demand CNN shows and special features, “exclusive” live events, and everything in CNN’s basic subscription tier, including all CNN.com articles and subscriber-only content.  Current pay-TV subscribers will get CNN’s new streaming content for free, although they’ll have to subscribe to CNN’s basic tier for full CNN.com access.  CNN has a checkered history when it comes to streaming subscriptions, to put it mildly.  CNN+ was an instant flop, debuting in March 2022 with its own slate of “original, live, on-demand and interactive programming” and shuttering barely a month later. The service cost $5.99 a month and—notoriously—lacked a live feed of basic-cable CNN.  A year later, CNN launched a live 24/7 stream on HBO Max, but that feed will go away on November 17 to make way for the new CNN streaming subscription tier.  So, will the new CNN subscription service deliver a live CNN simulcast? That’s not entirely clear yet, with CNN saying that the “full schedule and content offering will be available at launch.”  It’s worrisome, however, that CNN is promising only a “selection” of live CNN programming, rather than a full-on simulcast of the CNN cable channel. If that’s in fact the case, CNN may face an uphill battle—again—in terms of convincing news junkies to pay up for the new service.  At least early subscribers will get a discount, with CNN offering a year of its All Access tier for $41.99 if you sign up by January 5, 2026. The usual annual rate will be $69.99. Read...

Microsoft seems like it might be pulling back from a strategy limiting its latest AI functionality to just Copilot+ PCs armed with a dedicated NPU. If so, that could be a profound reversal of policy from the last two years. On Thursday, Microsoft announced a slew of new AI improvements that will apply to all Windows 11 PCs, including Copilot Actions, which allow AI agents to perform tasks on your behalf. Microsoft also made tweaks to Copilot, adding a “Hey Copilot” wake word and connected apps, as well as placing Copilot on the Windows 11 taskbar. Yusuf Mehdi, the chief consumer officer for Microsoft and an executive vice president, confirmed that none of the new Copilot functions require a Copilot+ PC, which includes an NPU with 40 TOPS or more. (The exception is an integration with Zoom on Click to Do, in which a user can right-click an email address or group of email addresses and create a Zoom meeting invitation.) The blog post in which the new features were announced was titled “Making every Windows 11 PC an AI PC.” Microsoft’s goal, Mehdi said, was to rebuild the AI PC. “We really feel that the vision that we have is, let’s rewrite the entire operating system around AI and build essentially what becomes truly the AI PC,” he told reporters. Copilot Actions in action.Microsoft “We’ve been now on this AI PC journey for probably three, four years,” Mehdi said. “Prior to that, we had multiple years of innovation that began publicly with our Copilot+ PC push that happened about a year and a half ago, where we essentially rewrote the operating system from the ground up, from the chip all the way to the cloud, to optimize battery, to optimize performance, to introduce new on device NPUs, so that you can run AI locally.” The AI PC was Microsoft’s first foray into AI, oriented around Intel’s Core Ultra Series 1 (Meteor Lake), the AMD Ryzen 8040 series, and the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite. Only Qualcomm’s chip delivered 45 TOPS, over the threshold for the Copilot+ PCs that Microsoft and others started delivering in 2024. At the time, Copilot+ PCs sounded like the next big thing. Over time, it seemed like the Copilot+ tent would expand to include more and more PCs as chipmakers simply made newer chips with dedicated NPUs and more TOPS. But Mehdi didn’t sound as committed when talking to reporters. “We did all of this years of work that let us get to the point of understanding what’s the right way to bring AI in,” Mehdi said. “We’ve learned a lot from that — you know, what features resonate. And one of the big things that I think really came to us is, while Copilot+ PCs really are the tip of the spear and are gaining, you know, fast traction, the big thing was, let’s bring that AI capability to all Windows 11 PCs, and make it really simple for anyone to try it. So that has been the big thing.” It’s not quite the ringing endorsement of Copilot+ PCs that you woud expect to hear from one of the Microsoft executives who launched the Copilot+ initiative in the first place. But it makes sense, too. Was Copilot+ too niche for Microsoft’s ambitions? A dedicated Copilot key on a laptop keyboard.IDG / Mark Hachman Put simply, Copilot+ PCs bombed in their first year, and there’s no reason to believe that sales shot up while Microsoft was trying to solve the problems around Recall. Mehdi told reporters that the “top feature” on Copilot+ PCs is semantic search, not Recall, but that’s still limited to Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite processors. But as we pointed out in 2024, the most powerful NPU is a GPU. An NPU’s strength is performing AI-optimized tasks effectively to maximize battery life, but the best LLMs and the most powerful generative AI art still runs best on a GPU if power isn’t an issue. It would make sense, then, if Microsoft were to de-emphasize local AI in order to favor a more all-encompassing message. But to do so would mean somewhat ditching Copilot+ and intrinsically discarding the accomplishments of its chip partners. Intel and Qualcomm just spent several days talking about the Intel Core Ultra Series 3 (Panther Lake) as well as the Snapdragon X2 Elite, respectively, after all. That would be a shocking reversal of the marketing message used by virtually all of the PC industry for most of the past few years. Microsoft didn’t address a PCWorld question whether Microsoft’s more inclusive stance toward AI also meant that it was moving away from Copilot+ and local AI. To be fair, Microsoft’s blog post ended with recommendations for new PCs to replace older Windows 10 hardware that officially ended support this week. All were Copilot+ PCs. Still, of the two blog posts Microsoft issued in support of its new Copilot features, the term “Copilot+” was used just a single time, to describe the Zoom integration into Click to Do. The term “NPU”? It didn’t appear. Not once. Read...

Microsoft’s Copilot Actions is what happens when Microsoft begins rethinking the future of Windows and how AI is integrated into the operating system. Imagine agentic AI being turned loose inside your PC and performing tasks without your supervision. It’s a big swing that’s conceptually almost as unsettling as Windows Recall. What happens when you ask AI to start mining and collating and adjusting your files, giving AI agents essentially the same user accounts you might give to members of your family? Microsoft is giving you tools to monitor this voluntary service, but… whew. It’s a monumental shift. The vision of Copilot Actions In a briefing with reporters, Microsoft executives gave the impression that with Windows 10 relegated to the back burner, it’s time for Windows 11—and whatever comes after it—to go full speed ahead. Copilot Actions is Microsoft’s current answer, and it’s one of Microsoft’s biggest AI features of 2025. The demo consisted of “uploading” multiple files to Copilot Actions, then telling it (via a Copilot prompt) to adjust their orientations and eliminate any duplicates. “We really feel that the vision that we have is, let’s rewrite the entire operating system around AI and build essentially what becomes truly the AI PC,” Yusuf Mehdi, a senior vice president and Microsoft’s chief consumer officer, told reporters in a briefing. “Now people have talked about an AI PC, but it hasn’t really come to life yet. There’s been many reasons that hasn’t happened.” Microsoft’s Copilot Vision has a prompt box, a list of tasks, and the option to stop.Microsoft One reason? Performance. Just two years ago, Microsoft began talking about the AI PC in terms of a new addition to chip architecture (called the NPU). Today, AI is largely split between the cloud (e.g., Copilot, ChatGPT, Claude, etc.) and local PCs, where chipmakers like AMD, Intel, and Qualcomm have struggled to find a killer app use case. The NPUs, Copilot+ PCs, and 40+ TOPS requirement has split the PC market, even though Copilot+ PC sales have been a tiny fraction of the overall market. Microsoft’s Mehdi sounds like he’s willing to toss all of that aside. “One of the big things that I think really came to us is, while Copilot+ PCs really are the tip of the spear and are gaining fast traction, the big thing was, let’s bring that AI capability to all Windows 11 PCs and make it really simple for anyone to try it.” What does Copilot Actions do? In 2023, Microsoft promised that Copilot would be able to actually adjust your PC. In reality, that turned out to be nothing more than lukewarm capabilities to adjust dark mode and other options. In May 2025, Microsoft showed off AI agents that would be able to make deeper changes. This month, Windows Insiders have been able to try out Direct Settings Access, where Microsoft will guide you to the right Settings menu in response to a query (but won’t make changes itself). In contrast, Copilot Actions are being pitched (at least in the example Microsoft showed reporters) as “Take Action” or the ability to “hand off unnecessary tasks.” If you open the Copilot app today, you’ll see a drop-down menu (initially on “Quick response”) with a list of options like “Think Deeper.” Copilot Actions appears at the bottom. For Copilot Actions, you’ll need to select the “Take Action” drop-down.Microsoft Copilot Actions will have access to certain parts of your PC—a limited set of your local known folders, such as Documents, Downloads, Desktop, or Pictures—and other resources that are accessible to all accounts. Microsoft envisions you “uploading” or at least marking files that you want Copilot to act upon. As stated above, Microsoft’s example showed off a number of photos that were uploaded, reoriented, and deduplicated. It’s really hard to say what “actions” you’ll be able to take without actually testing it personally, however. Microsoft is taking a cautious approach to Copilot Actions, placing them inside an experimental option for now.Microsoft Microsoft says Copilot Actions will be off by default and describes the feature as a voluntary process where you can supervise every step of the way. Microsoft isn’t just restricting Copilot Actions to Windows Insiders, but also walling it off further by requiring Insiders to participate in Copilot Labs, too. It certainly won’t hit the average PC for months. As it is, Microsoft says it will need to be toggled on via Settings > System > AI components > Agent tools > Experimental agentic features. How safe is Copilot Actions? Microsoft’s Copilot Actions builds on what Microsoft now calls Copilot Actions on the Web, part of its anniversary celebration this past spring. There, Microsoft showed off AI agents that could browse and shop the web on your behalf, pausing before they made any final purchases. Copilot Actions is more aggressive… sort of. In somewhat the same way that a “Deep Research” query using AI formulates a plan and then asks you for approval, Copilot Actions breaks down the task: opening the app, entering text, clicking on elements. But it doesn’t wait, either. It just kicks off the request and it’s up to you to press the black square icon to stop the process (as needed) as it steps through the various tasks. Importantly, you can “take control” and essentially pause Copilot Actions to then take over. If something goes wrong and your files are corrupted or deleted? Well, who knows. Microsoft’s approach to securing this process will likely be picked apart by security experts as well. The left-hand navigation box is the workspace that Copilot Actions sees. This is the completed task.Microsoft In a blog post, Microsoft goes into some of the details. First, Microsoft will be creating agent accounts within Windows, distinct from user accounts on your PC. “This facilitates agent-specific policy application that can be different from the rules applied to other accounts like those for human users,” Microsoft said. Second, these agents will start with limited permissions with access granted to resources you explicitly allow permission to, and a “well-defined boundary” for the agent’s actions. The access can be revoked. Each agent will also have to be digitally signed, Microsoft said, to prevent them from becoming malware. Third, all of the agents will work within a dedicated “workspace,” with runtime isolation and granular permissions that appear to request user intervention if they haven’t already been granted. “This provides the agent with capabilities like its own desktop while limiting the visibility and access the agent has to the user’s desktop activity,” Microsoft says. “The agent workspace is built on recognized security boundaries that Microsoft will defend in accordance with our longstanding security servicing criteria.” It’s not clear how this agentic workspace differs from the “sandbox” that Microsoft provides as part of Windows Sandbox, a virtualized OS that’s a key feature of Windows 11 Pro. Navjot Virk, the corporate vice president of Windows Experiences, acknowledged that Copilot Actions may make mistakes. “We’re absolutely committed to learning from how people use it, and we want to continue to improve the experience, to make it more capable and streamlined over time, and that is why real-world testing of this experience is so critical,” she said. Microsoft hasn’t said when Copilot Actions will be released to the public, but we’d expect it to be relatively soon. It’s certain to be controversial. Read...

It was inevitable: Microsoft plans to carve out space on the Windows 11 taskbar for Copilot, while adding “Hey Copilot” as a wake word to trigger interactions with its AI. While the company isn’t making any overt changes to the branding of Windows 11, its executives this week spoke about reinventing the “AI PC,” the first generation of PCs it launched with early NPUs. Microsoft plans to make PCs smarter, including agents that can take actions and granting Copilot Vision more powers. Adding Copilot to the taskbar will actually be the most visible change to the Windows 11 user interface. However, it’s not the one Microsoft is focusing on. Now, it’s time to talk to your PC again. Yusuf Mehdi, the consumer chief marketing officer and executive vice president for Microsoft, said that the first priority of these new AI PCs was voice. “You should be able to interact with it naturally in text and primarily with voice,” he said in a briefing with reporters. “So you should be able to talk to your PC, have it understand you, and then be able to have magic happen from that, as easy as just talking to it.” “Voice will now become the third input mechanism to use in your PC,” Mehdi added. “It doesn’t replace the keyboard, but it will be an additive thing.” In the Windows 11 2023 Update, Cortana was a separate icon on the Windows 11 taskbar, next to the search box.Mark Hachman / IDG With Windows 10 transitioning into an unsupported state (well, kind of), Windows 11 is really the only focus for Microsoft right now. If the company is readying Windows 12, it will certainly be AI first. But for now, the company plans to test out these new features with Windows 11 Insiders in its beta program in the coming weeks. A key point: none of these new features require an NPU or a Copilot+ PC. They’ll be open to all supported Windows 11 PCs. Copilot: Front and center on the Windows taskbar Microsoft took pains to reiterate that these choices are optional. But if you so choose, you will be able to add Copilot to your taskbar. “Our vision is simple yet bold: to make the taskbar a dynamic hub that helps you accomplish more with less effort, transforming everyday interactions into moments of productivity and delight,” Microsoft said in a blog post. This is what the Windows 11 taskbar will look like now: Copilot essentially replaces the Search box. The Copilot box apparently will serve as a replacement for the existing Search box within Windows 11, though it will handle search queries as well. Importantly, the Copilot box will also include icons for Copilot Vision and Voice, tacitly encouraging you to let Copilot see your screen and hear you. It’s unclear if Copilot is the default. Microsoft says it relies on existing Windows APIs to return apps, files, and settings, without accessing your content. Still, its presence on the screen and taskbar serves as a reminder to use Copilot. Microsoft gives your hands a break with “Hey Copilot” It’s ironic that Microsoft is letting go of Windows 10 this week, since Cortana was one of its flagship features — and “Hey Cortana” was the way to wake it. Cortana, of course, suffered an ignominious deprecation at the hands of the company. In May, Microsoft signaled that “Hey Copilot” would be the trigger to wake Copilot in Windows 11. This feature — now called Voice Mode — is present in the Copilot options. According to Mehdi, it will reach general availability on millions of PCs this week. Saying “Goodbye” will close Copilot, the company said. There’s an ongoing tension with the way people were “trained” to type in search terms, Mehdi said, especially short searches that produced broad results. Now, prompts reward longer inputs, but people are reluctant to type those in because they don’t know what to write. Cortana did appear for a brief time in Windows 11.Mark Hachman / IDG “What we find with Copilot is people don’t know exactly what they want to say,” Mehdi said. “They don’t know exactly what they want to ask or how to ask it. And so with voice, it becomes much simpler, less precise than when you have to have it with a bunch of prompted text.” “I think that’s really kind of the key tipping point, is that you’re able to now easily talk to it and get what you want,” Mehdi said. Will office workers want to talk to their PCs? It’s optional The challenge is also cultural. Can you imagine yourself talking to a PC inside a shared office, even with cubicles, with dozens of coworkers listening in? According to Microsoft, you will: “Hundreds of millions of people today talk for billions of minutes in offices with headphones,” Mehdi said. “They found a way to make it work.” Mehdi also used a specific word to describe how users orally interact with their PCs: not talking “to” the computer, and not talking “with” it, either — but talking “through” it. “And I think that this change to talk with and talk to will come to reality, and we’ll see this thing really take off,” he said. If you’re dead set against talking to — er, through — your PC, there’s another option: Microsoft is adding the ability to interact with Copilot Vision via text. Even dictation on iPhones has helped Microsoft’s user base become more comfortable talking to/through their devices, Microsoft says.Apple Copilot Vision basically sees what you see on your PC’s screen. It doesn’t require an NPU, though my tests found that using it with a Copilot+ equipped PC certainly helped. (Some laptops I used wouldn’t work with Copilot PC, though that was early in the process.) In my test of Copilot Vision, I found it was lousy in helping with older games, but offered real potential in walking you through apps and procedures that you were unfamiliar with. It’s worth noting, though, that Microsoft is testing a Gaming Copilot specifically to help in certain tasks and is launching it with the ROG Xbox Ally. The problem? Copilot Vision was, at the time, all voice driven. Not everybody wants to broadcast to an office or other workspace that they don’t know how to interact with Photoshop. Now Microsoft is granting Copilot Vision an option for text interaction, just like Copilot. “So in the appropriate circumstances, if you want to type in, you can do that,” Mehdi said. It’s not quite clear whether people will want to talk to, with, or through their PCs. I’ve been in a lot of very quiet offices where no one says a word. But Microsoft seems set on making it as comfortable as it can to talk or chat with Copilot. The important thing for the company is that you’re using it. Read...

Razer has debuted the second generation of its Kiyo cameras — the V2 as well as the V2 X — powered by Camo’s AI tools to make you look even better. Razer’s $149.99 Kiyo V2 captures images at 4K, 30 fps. The less expensive $99.99 Kiyo X captures images at a lower 1440p resolution, but increases the capture rate to 60Hz for a more lifelike feel. The V2 includes some features that have been carried over from the first-generation Pro Ultra, which really only lost its position as PCWorld’s best premium webcam because of its high $300 price tag. Both webcams include an 8.3Mpixel Starvis sensor from Sony, autofocus, and a configurable wide-angle field of view which extends to 93 degrees in the V2. The X steps down significantly with a 3.7Mpixel sensor and a narrower, 80-degree field of view, though it includes autofocus as well. The selling point of the V2 appears to be some work Razer did with Camo, a free Windows app that touches up your image using the power of a Copilot+ NPU. The app doesn’t need Razer’s cameras; it can use a basic webcam and apply filters, blur your background, or attach an overlay to identify who you are for streaming purposes. The V2 boasts a “one-click image enhancement” that presumably uses the Camo software, auto-adjusting white balance, exposure, and noise reduction to help you look even better. Naturally, it’s all controlled by Razer’s Synapse software, which has added capabilities like spotlight focus to help make your image pop from the background, custom or not. The V2 also includes HDR capabilities. Razer is marketing both cameras at content creators and streamers, to take advantage of the features both cameras offer. While some of the best webcams don’t cost more than $100, the $150 price tag of the V2 doesn’t seem overly extravagant. Read...

If you want to try a new web browser and have at least a modicum of tech savviness, Vivaldi is what I usually recommend. Vivaldi launched just over a decade ago with a focus squarely on power users. It offers an abundance of tab management tools, endlessly customizable keyboard shortcuts, and a seemingly endless list of settings to make the browser behave the way you want it to. Just as importantly, Vivaldi is the rare tech tool that feels like it’s entirely on your side. It doesn’t collect your browsing data, it has an easy-to-read privacy policy, and it never tries to push you into weird cryptocurrency schemes or VPN subscriptions. The company is employee-owned and doesn’t have to jump on new fads just to satisfy investors. But as someone who’s been using Vivaldi since the beginning, I’ve also grown frustrated with the browser. In some ways, it’s less powerful than other browsers that don’t explicitly cater to power users, and it’s missing some features that would be well within its mission to offer. While I always find myself back with Vivaldi, the following improvements would discourage me from considering jumping ship. Commit to supporting uBlock Origin Michael Crider / Foundry uBlock Origin is a great ad blocker and one that’s wildly popular among tech enthusiasts, but Chromium-based browsers like Vivaldi won’t support it forever without intervention. That’s because Google is moving to a new extension platform called Manifest V3 and gradually hindering users from installing uBlock Origin (and other Manifest V2 extensions) from its Chrome Web Store, which Vivaldi relies on. Vivaldi has made it clear that it has no plans to keep supporting uBlock Origin. In a June 2024 blog post, the company supported Google’s move to Manifest V3 and pointed to its built-in ad-and-tracking-blocker as a viable alternative to third-party options. “Here at Vivaldi, it’s always been our policy to build the most important functionality into the browser, so you don’t have to trust an unknown third party and worry that it’s in danger of going away,” the company wrote. Sorry, but that’s a cop-out. Vivaldi’s built-in blocking tools are less effective for privacy than other browsers and they’re less customizable than uBlock Origin. Besides, other browsers such as Brave and Opera have found ways to keep making uBlock Origin available. (Ironically, Vivaldi founder Jon von Tetzchner was one of Opera’s co-founders, and started Vivaldi in 2015 because he was fed up with how his old company had watered down the product.) A browser that prides itself on letting users craft their own experiences shouldn’t be deciding which ad-blocking tools those people can use. It should be helping them use whichever ones they want. Sync the entire experience across devices Vivaldi Workspaces (left) and Web Panels (right)Jared Newman / Foundry Like most other browsers, Vivaldi offers a Sync feature for accessing your bookmarks, history, and open tabs across all devices. What’s missing, though, is a way to sync your full Vivaldi setup so you get the same exact experience on any and every machine. For example, Vivaldi has a useful tab management feature called “Workspaces,” which lets you toggle between different groups of pages in your tab bar. This is helpful if you’re juggling a few projects and want separate lists of tabs for each. As it stands, there’s no way to access the same Workspaces across devices. You can use Vivaldi’s synced tabs view to see what’s in your Workspaces and open each page manually, but you can’t set up a group of tabs that’s instantly available everywhere. Vivaldi’s Web Panels don’t sync across devices either. Web Panels are a great Vivaldi feature, letting you quickly glance at favorite sites through a slide-out sidebar view, but setting them up takes a lot of time and effort. When you move to another device, you have to do it all over again. Vivaldi doesn’t even sync themes across devices, so the browser may look entirely different when you move from one device to another. Surely I’m not the only one who uses Vivaldi on more than one PC? Having my entire setup and all my tab collections synced across devices would be immensely valuable—possibly enough to warrant paying for—but Vivaldi doesn’t offer anything close to that right now. Bring extensions to the mobile app Extensions (including a custom new tab page) in Orion for iPad.Jared Newman / Foundry Extensions are an essential browser tool for power users, allowing you to add new features, alter website behavior, and get quicker access to important info. On the desktop, I use extensions to replace the standard new tab page, check Amazon price histories, generate private email aliases, and more. But none of those customizations are available in Vivaldi’s mobile app, which doesn’t support extensions at all. To make things worse, a bunch of Vivaldi’s rivals already offer extensions on mobile: Orion for iOS lets users install extensions from either the Chrome Web Store or Firefox Add-ons. Firefox offers thousands of extensions for its Android app. Microsoft Edge offers extensions for its Android app as well. Mobile extension support should be a slam dunk for Vivaldi. Instead, it’s another area where other browsers that aren’t as focused on power users are somehow doing a better job. Build a best-in-class tablet app Vivaldi’s iPad app is a pale immitation of the desktop version.Jared Newman / Foundry I’ve been replacing some of my laptop use with an iPad Pro lately, and one thing I miss is having access to the full Vivaldi experience. Vivaldi’s tablet app is nothing like the desktop version. There’s no vertical tab support, no Web Panels, no Workspaces, no recently closed tabs view, no user-made themes, no custom keyboard shortcuts, no active tab search… I could go on and on. Most of these omissions apply to Vivaldi’s phone app as well, but I’d charitably expect a more lightweight browser on a smaller screen like that. On a larger tablet, the user experience should come a lot closer to what Vivaldi is like on desktop, otherwise there’s not much point in using it. For now, I’ve just been using Orion’s iPad app instead, because at least it supports extensions (which, again, Vivaldi’s app doesn’t). Do more and do it better, Vivaldi Vivaldi recently made a big to-do about how it’s not building AI into its browser, arguing that AI features sap the web of joy and users of curiosity. I don’t have a problem with Vivaldi taking that stance, but it doesn’t inherently help the browser get any better. Instead of defining itself by what it’s not, Vivaldi should take a stand on what it is and what it’s actually trying to be. To me, that means building more ways to customize and control the browser experience for people who deeply care about such things. Further reading: I got sick of Chrome’s BS and switched to Vivaldi Read...

Warwick Farm trainer Joe Pride is relishing the label of underdog for his stable’s contenders in the Everest day features on Saturday at Randwick. Read...

Feeling bad for the “plus” sign that Apple TV shed earlier this week? Well, good news: that abandoned word now has a new home, thanks to Amazon.  Starting today, Amazon’s Fire TV Stick 4K is now called the Fire TV Stick 4K Plus—not the exact “+” that the Apple TV streaming service removed, but it’s close enough.  In a statement to TechHive, Amazon was careful to note that the Fire Stick 4K Plus doesn’t come with any new or plus-sized features; instead, we’re simply talking a new name, nothing more.  The reason for the (somewhat random) name change is to “help customers differentiate between” the Fire TV Stick 4K Plus and the new Fire TV Stick 4K Select, which Amazon unveiled during its big fall hardware event late last month.   The $39.99 Fire TV Stick 4K Select sits on the lower end of Amazon’s three Fire TV 4K sticks, while the $49.99 Fire TV 4K Plus takes the Select’s features (including 4K HDR output) and adds Dolby Vision HDR as well as Dolby Atmos audio.  Then there’s the high-end $59.99 Fire TV Stick Max, which offers Wi-Fi 6e support (versus Wi-Fi 5 and 6 for the Fire TV Stick Select and Plus, respectively), 16GB of storage (double the storage of the other two sticks), and the Fire TV Ambient Experience, which serves customizable Alexa widgets, the ability to turn your TV screen into a photo frame, and “dynamic art” that changes according to the ambient light in the room, the current weather, and the time of day.    There are also a couple of other Fire TV players: the Fire TV Stick HD ($34.99), which doesn’t do 4K streaming, and the Fire TV Cube ($139.99), a larger cube-sized streaming player that can control TV components with voice commands.  Name changes for streaming services and devices have been something of a thing over the past few months. This past summer, HBO Max got its old name back (it was briefly rebranded as “Max,”) while Paramount+ shaved the “with Showtime” branding off some of its subscription tiers.  Just on Monday, Apple announced that its Apple TV+ streaming service will now be called simply “Apple TV,” similar (some would say too similar) to its Apple TV 4K streaming box.  This story is part of TechHive’s coverage of the best streaming media players. Read...

Officially, yesterday was a wrap on Windows 10. Microsoft has ended support for the operating system, with users now left with only a handful of options: extend Windows 10 support, upgrade to Windows 11, or switch to another operating system altogether. If Windows 11 is on the table for you, today is your lucky day because you can get Windows 11 licenses for super cheap on the PCWorld Software Store right now. Seriously, both Windows 11 Home and Windows 11 Pro are currently priced at $14.97 each. That’s down from $139 (89% off) and $199 (92% off), respectively. Huge savings! Casual users who don’t need all the fancy features of the Pro version can get away with Windows 11 Home, although given that they’re on sale for the same price, you might consider getting Windows 11 Pro for the heck of it. Windows 11 Pro unlocks advanced features like BitLocker encryption, Remote Desktop Server, Hyper-V virtualization, and Windows Sandbox. (See our breakdown of Windows 11 Pro versus Home.) Get Windows 11 for up to 92% off right nowBuy now via PCWorld Software Store How to activate your Windows 11 license After you’ve made your order, you’ll have to check your email inbox for the license key. Once you have that and your chosen Windows 11 copy is installed, here’s how to activate the license: Go to Start > Settings > System > Activation. Go to Change Product Key and enter the key you received via email. Copy/paste works just fine for this. Select Next and you’re done! Read...