But a lot of those features were already available to some extent on Apple devices through third-party apps.
So, just like the past few years, we will examine the ideas that Apple “Sherlocked” in this year’s updates.
But what do we mean that Apple “sherlocked” something?
Feature: Voice transcriptionSherlocked apps: Otter, AudioPen, Voicenotes.comApart from call transcription, Apple will also offer voice transcription in apps like Notes with the upcoming updates.
That said, some of these Sherlocked apps might survive by offering customized or enterprise solutions, but some small-scale indie apps will eventually lose users to Apple.
Google has acquired Cameyo, a company developing virtualization tools to run Windows apps on ChromeOS devices, for an undisclosed amount.
Cameyo CTO Eyal Dotan founded the startup in 2018, aiming to create a platform to virtualize Windows apps so that they could run on non-Windows machines and even within web browsers.
Last year, perhaps foreshadowing the acquisition, Google partnered with Cameyo to launch features including Windows app local file system integration and the ability to deliver virtual Windows apps as progressive web apps, or apps hosted in datacenters that run in browsers.
With Cameyo’s tech, organizations looking to move away from Windows — or work with both Windows and ChromeOS — have a potentially more appealing avenue, particularly as more and more apps move to the cloud and web-based technologies.
Indeed, Cameyo claims on its website that hundreds of organizations, including school districts and financial institutions, already rely on its software.
Increasingly, the AI industry is moving toward generative AI models with longer contexts.
Ori Goshen, the CEO of AI startup AI21 Labs, asserts that this doesn’t have to be the case — and his company is releasing a generative model to prove it.
Contexts, or context windows, refer to input data (e.g.
Trained on a mix of public and proprietary data, Jamba can write text in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese.
Loads of freely available, downloadable generative AI models exist, from Databricks’ recently released DBRX to the aforementioned Llama 2.
The suit alleges that the company has a monopoly in the premium smartphone market and uses a variety of illegal tactics to perpetuate that monopoly.
Apple’s monopoly position is not nearly as clear-cut.
Microsoft Windows had well over 90% market share in the relevant market of operating systems for personal computers.
This argument is important because Apple’s market share is much lower globally (only 23%, with number-two Samsung at 16%).
There’s also a host of circumstantial proof, such as Apple’s massive and durable profit margins on iPhone sales.
The company has offered accessibility-focused Xbox peripheral for some time and has introduced the Adaptive line of computing peripherals roughly this time last year.
The Adaptive line got a refresh and a couple of new entries at this week’s virtual Windows event.
This round brings back the Adaptive Mouse, which features thumb support and custom tails 3D printed by Shapeways.
The Adaptive Hub is effectively an adaptive accessory for the other adaptive accessories, allowing for up to three devices and four Adaptive Buttons to be connected wirelessly.
Rounding out Microsoft’s new accessibility accessories is a Surface Pro Keyboard with brighter backlighting and bolder text for users with vision impairments.
But that’s how things are at Microsoft now: everything needs to have a Copilot angle — even its most straightforward hardware events.
“Windows 11 and Windows 365 promise a new era of AI productivity,” Melissa Grant, Microsoft’s senior director for Windows Enterprise said.
Microsoft is also betting on cloud PCs delivered through Windows 365 as a surface for the Copilot.
Microsoft says that Windows App usage has now reached over 3 million active hours since it entered preview at the Microsoft Ignite 2023 in November.
And those Windows 365 cloud PCs?
Microsoft’s latest gambit to snag much of the human talent from Inflection AI is causing waves this week.
The subtext is clear enough: Microsoft doesn’t want to run into regulatory oversight in the form of anti-trust action.
Regardless of your perspective on such deal-killing, Microsoft seems to have found a way around the matter in this case.
Elsewhere in Microsoft land there’s talk of a new GPT model from OpenAI, and even some new Surface and Windows news that has an AI lilt.
Wherever you look, there’s Microsoft and AI, cutting up the rug.
It was only a few years ago — in 2021 — that Windows 11 gained official support for Android apps thanks to a Microsoft-maintained VM called the Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA).
With the WSA, Windows 11 users could install and run nearly the full range of apps for Android, optionally through Amazon’s Android marketplace — the Amazon Appstore — thanks to an Amazon-Microsoft deal.
Now, Windows 11 is losing official Android app support — and access to the Amazon Appstore along with it.
Windows 11 users who’ve installed the Amazon Appstore or Android apps will continue to have access to those apps through March 5, 2025 — but not after.
Now, just because Microsoft’s ending support for the WSA doesn’t mean it’ll become impossible to run Android apps on Windows.
You may not have a Copilot key on your PC’s keyboard yet, but if you’re a Windows 11 user, you’ll soon be able to use Copilot for a lot more everyday tasks on your desktop.
Starting today, Microsoft is adding skills that will allow the Copilot to change more Windows 11 settings for you and plugins for services like OpenTable, Shopify and Kayak.
Restaurant reservations through OpenTable, travel reservations through Kayak and a Shopify integration are surely only the start here, too.
At the same time, Microsoft is now also integrating more AI features into its existing Windows apps.
The second is a feature that automatically removes silence from videos in the Clipchamps video editor.
Microsoft would like 2024 to be the “year of the AI PC” and to put a point on that, the company today announced a new key for Copilot — that is, a physical key that will soon make its way to your keyboard and join the Windows key, together with its friends the Control key, Alt and that Insert key you’ve never purposely used.
Based on the image Microsoft sent over, it looks like the new Copilot key will replace the right Control key on the standard PC keyboard, where it will slot in between the Alt key and the left arrow key.
“The introduction of the Copilot key marks the first significant change to the Windows PC keyboard in nearly three decades,” Microsoft’s Yusuf Mehdi, Executive Vice President & Consumer Chief Marketing Officer, writes in today’s announcement.
The Copilot key joins the Windows key as a core part of the PC keyboard and when pressed, the new key will invoke the Copilot in Windows experience to make it seamless to engage Copilot in your day to day.”In regions where Copilot is not available, the Copilot key will launch Windows Search.
The first keyboards with the new key will launch at this year’s CES in Las Vegas and will likely start shipping in late February.
