Sofia Elizabella Wyciślik-Wilson

There are times when it makes sense to type a message in WhatsApp, and others when it is better to send a voice message. As the recipient of a voice message, it may not be convenient or possible to listen straight way.

Now WhatsApp has finally added the solutions users have been asking for -- transcripts. This long-awaited feature provides a text version of an audio message so you can read it instead of listening to it.

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Not content with providing access to music on demand, it did not take long for Spotify to branch out and start hosting podcasts. More recently, audiobooks were introduced, and now the company has announced a series of new audiobook features.

Books and video may not seem like natural bedfellows, but this is one of the things that is currently being tested. Other new features include author pages which are similar to artist pages, and an interesting “follow-along” option.

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The US Department of Justice has put forward proposals designed to break Google’s monopoly over online searches. Included in the DOJ’s proposals is the recommendation that Google sell off its Chrome web browser.

Other proposals include putting blocks in place that would stop the tech giant from entering into contracts with companies that result in Google being the default search engine on various platforms. Google has lashed out at the proposals saying that they go too far and would cause harm to customers and innovation.

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Having already tested the waters with Windows Server for the last couple of years, Microsoft is bringing hotpatch updates to Windows 11 24H2.

The key advantage to hotpatching is that it allows for security updates to be installed without the need for a restart. This is something which is important for businesses, so it is perhaps not surprising that Microsoft is previewing hotpatch updates in Windows 11 Enterprise.

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For fans of debloating Windows, Tiny11 has been a godsend. The free utility has made it possible to debloat Windows 11 and shrink the installation footprint of the operating system far beyond what many people thought possible.

Now there is a new version of the decrapifier available, updated with full support for the recently released Windows 11 24H2.

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Showing its continuing, and growing, love of Arm-based systems, Microsoft has now released an ISO image of the Arm edition of Windows 11.

In making the ISO available, Microsoft has just made life a whole lot easier for those who have embraced Arm. While it was not impossible to obtain Windows 11 for Arm previously, there were off-putting hoops to jump through, but the direct download is very welcome.

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The nature of modern-day politics means that parties of all colors, all leanings, spend millions on advertising -- it is something that was painfully apparent during the run-up to the US presidential election. Technology firms and social media platforms are under a lot of pressure to take steps to prevent election interference, and to increase transparency.

This is something that has been playing out in Europe with regulation on Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising (TTPA) due to come into force in the EU. With concerns about the, “operational challenges and legal uncertainties” this could lead to, Google has announced that it will not only will stop serving political advertising in the European Union, but will do so before the TTPA comes into force.

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Amazon may be one of the biggest names in online retail, but in recent years the likes of Temu has started to encroach on its territory by offering products at absurdly low prices.

Now Amazon has come up with a response. Amazon Haul is a new shopping experience that has launched in beta for US shoppers. Building on the Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) service, Haul is home to “affordable fashion, home, lifestyle, electronics, and other products with ultra-low prices”. Most things are priced under $10, so what’s the catch?

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Branding is important, and this is something we’ve already seen with digital assistants like Siri. Moving into the artificial intelligence era, companies have been falling over themselves to get their own stamp on their version of AI.

Apple has opted for the reasonably predictable “Apple Intelligence”, while Microsoft’s approach has been a little more haphazard. But now there are clues that suggest the company has finally come to understand the importance of giving people an overarching term to cover all of its AI-related offerings. Say hello to Windows Intelligence.

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Rightly or wrongly, GIMP is perhaps best known for being the app that is first mentioned when people ask for a free alternative to Photoshop. The open-source image editing tool has a large and devoted following, but it is a very long time since it received a significant update.

Now GIMP 3.0 is on the horizon, and ahead of the launch of this massive, long-awaited update, the first release candidate has landed. GIMP 3.0 RC1 is the first major update in around 6 years and it includes a range of new features such as non-destructive filters, numerous updates to the interface, and much more.

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It seems that even legacy apps are not immune to artificial intelligence. Microsoft has just rolled out a new Insider build of Windows 11 that sees the arrival of AI-powered features in Paint and Notepad.

While these are both stalwarts of the Windows app arena, they also feel like unusual targets for updating with such cutting-edge features. But this is precisely what Microsoft is doing, furnishing Notepad with a handy AI-driven Rewrite feature, and Paint with clever fill and erase options.

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Microsoft developers have pushed out PowerToys v0.86.0. To answer the first question that follows the release of a new version of this utility collection -- no, there are no new modules this time around.

There are, however, numerous new features to justify getting excited, including various new capabilities for the Advanced Paste utility. But there’s more, much more, to this release.

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Back in September, Elon Musk announced upcoming changes to the blocking feature of X. Once fully implemented, the change means that when an X user blocks someone, that blocked user will still be able to see all of the content posted by the blocker, although no interaction will be possible.

The precise reasons for changing the functionality of blocking in this way is not really clear, but it is something that has sparked concern. In addition to risks to privacy, there are also worries about what the changes could mean for victims of cyber-stalking.

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There are few web browsers that could be described as lightweight and speedy, and Chrome certainly has a lot to do to earn these labels. However, having already done quite a bit to improve the experience in its browser, Google has now further enhanced Chrome’s performance Controls.

Two key features -- Performance Detection and Memory Saver -- have been improved to reduce memory usage, accelerate browsing, and generally make Chrome feel less sluggish.

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Google has announced sweeping changes to the look and feel of the web-based version of Google Calendar.

The headline change is the introduction of a much-requested dark mode option, but there is much more. Google Calendar on the web is being given an interface refresh to bring it in line with Google Material Design 3 and there is a focus on accessibility.

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